Grandma's Harajuku

Today we went to a neighborhood in Tokyo known as Grandma's Harajuku.  Harajuku is a neighborhood that has a lot of young adult fashions.  So....Grandma's Harajuku has fashions for elderly women.  It's a neat neighborhood, actually.  It reminded me of my grandma (in a good way, of course!). There were many stores with older women's clothing:

One Night in Shinjuku

Christian and I had one last date night in Tokyo before we move back to Milwaukee.  We decided to hang out with all the youngsters in Shinjuku.  First, we had a tempura dinner.  Here is our dinner before it was cooked:

Here is our dinner after cooking:

One of the pieces in front is a shrimp head.  It was pretty good, actually.

There was no English spoken at this restaurant.  We used a lot of sign language.

After dinner, we walked around Shinjuku, which is where a lot of the nightlife takes place.

This last picture is of a love hotel.  This is a hotel that rents rooms by the hour.  They are quite common in Japan.

Anyway, given that Joseph and Gracie get up between 5 and 6 each morning, we made our way home by 10 pm.  Fuddy duddies unite.

Hong Kong!

When in Rome....

I went to Hong Kong with my friend, Junko, and it was a blast.  Christian, very graciously, stayed home with the kids.  It was a very "relaxing" weekend.  :)

We flew out on Friday morning and arrived in Hong Kong mid-afternoon.  We got to our hotel, and then we hit the pavement.  Hong Kong is known for shopping, and shop we did!  I've not bought any shoes in Japan, but I came home with two pairs this weekend.

That evening, we took a tour of Kowloon and saw the magnificent skyline.

There are neon lights everywhere!

Hong Kong is really a gorgeous city because there is a mountain in the middle of Hong Kong Island.  We went up the "Peak" on Saturday morning.  The view is breathtaking.

Most expats live in areas called Repulse Bay and Stanley, and these places are like Malibu.  No joke.

While shopping, I found some grammatical/spelling errors.  :)

Junko and I went all over: the jade market, fancy malls, Stanley market, foot massage at Happy Foot, dim sum on Sunday morning, etc.

There are negatives about Hong Kong.  The city is a lot dirtier than Tokyo.  I actually stepped in dog poop while walking around.  UGH!  People are ruder.  And the taxi drivers are maniacs.  Taxi fares are cheap, though.  I guess you get what you pay for.

While in Hong Kong, I ran into our old babysitter, Erin!  It was great to see her.  She also filled us in on some human rights violations in Hong Kong.  Read here.  :(

Gracie, the vixen

As I was picking up Gracie from pre-school yesterday, a couple of the teachers told me that Gracie has her eyes on one of her classmates, Joao.  (a Portuguese boy)  Evidently, they were at the park, and Gracie grabbed Joao's face and gave him a kiss.  Mind you, both of them are not even 2 years old!  What will she be like when she's teenager?????  Joao and Gracie are buddies, actually.  Joao's older brother, Luis, is probably Joseph's best friend.

More of "can't do this in Milwaukee"

Last night I went to a fashion show.  My friend, Sonia, had been given some tickets.  We were swiftly brought to the front row.

We saw the designer Hideaki Sakaguchi.  I didn't care for the clothes, and the models were dressed like it was 1985 (including crimped hair!).  However, the atmosphere was very surreal.  It was like watching robots walk down the catwalk.  The women were pretty, but they certainly had some flaws.  (hey, I can point these things out, can't I???)  Acne, a bit of cellulite.  Not that I was staring at them.  I just can't help but wonder how many models get their photos airbrushed.

It was only a 30 minute show, but it was really cool.

Some more tidbits, October edition

I have a few interesting photos to share.

The first is a moving technique.  We have new neighbors above us.  Evidently, their sleeper sofa would not fit in the elevator or the stairwell.  So the movers hoisted it over the balcony.  It was theatrical!

My friend, Junko, invited Christian and me to her house for dinner.  She had a guest chef who specializes in soba kaiseki.  I got to help out with the presentation of the food.  I did not do a great job, but it was interesting to see how chefs in Japan are so into the design of the food on the plate.  It was a lovely meal.  The chef works at a 1-star Michelin restaurant in Yokohama.

A few nights ago I joined some other pre-school moms to watch another mom at her night club gig.  She is a professional singer and has been in Japan 17 years.  When you meet other foreigners in Japan, you always end up asking what people do for a living.  Most people have kind of "boring" jobs - consultants, marketing directors, Harley dudes... you get the picture.  Andrea (the singer) is married to a restaurant owner. They certainly have interesting stories to tell.  She has a great voice!

Finally, I was shopping at the 100 yen store today, and I came across this beauty.  Again, I wish someone would just hire me as a proofreader.  There aren't any misspellings on this label, but it just sounds so goofy!  "The sitting mat wrap of the flush toilet."  OK!  I couldn't help but show you something associated with bathrooms/toilets.  Enjoy.

Tokyo Disneyland with the Europeans!

On Friday I took the kids to Tokyo Disneyland!  We've been meaning to go, and some other pre-school moms invited us to go with them. We went with Portuguese, Danish, and Norwegian families!  It put a whole new perspective on "It's a Small World!"

Tokyo Disneyland is really interesting in that the adults get into the Disney stuff more than the the kids.  There were lots of adults there donned in Disney costumes.  And the park was really crowded for a random Friday.

We spent the majority of our time in the small kid-friendly areas.  We couldn't go on some of the rides because of the really small kids, but we managed to have some fun.  I made myself sick on the spinning tea cups.  :)

Joseph was kind of funny (weird??) in that he carried some Lightning McQueen cars around with him all day.  If you look at his hands in some of the pictures, you'll see the cars.

All in all, it was a really nice day.  However, we are all exhausted by the end.  Both kids passed out in the car within 5 minutes.  I went to bed really early that night!

Here are some pictures.