Spring Break 2008
The first week of April was our Spring Break. I took the whole week off work because if I don't have classes, then I don't want to be there. Plus, I have a ton of paid vacation saved up that I can use anytime I want.
Gilbert had 3 friends visiting, so I mainly hung out with them. On one day, we went to Kamakura and Chinatown in Yokohama. Going to Kamakura was fun, but on the train going down in the morning, we hit rush hour. I've been on really crowded trains before, but this might have been the most crowded. Plus there were delays because of a slight earthquake that day. After about an hour of sardine commuting, the train began to empty out and Francois and I were able to grab seats after Shibuya. So the last hour of the train ride wasn't so bad.
In case you were interested, I couldn't see if there were pushers, but the doors did close very slowly, I had never seen them do that before, but it was pretty miserable.
When we got to Kamakura, we headed straight for the Big Buddha statue, then to Hase Dera, and then we walked along the beach. I spent the day checking out all the settings on my new camera and took quite a lot of photos. Which I'll get around to posting sometime. They are too big right now, so I'll have to shrink them.
After the beach, we ate some sushi and went to Chinatown. In Chinatown, we ate some Goma Dango. Andre said they wouldn't be as good as the ones in Toronto, but then when he ate them, he realized his transgression immediately. The Toronto "Chinatown" is quite amazing though, and I like it better than the one in Yokohama. I've heard there is a real on in Tokyo that's much more authentic that the one in Yokohama, I should seek it out.
After Yokohama, we went home.
That week was kind of a blur because we did so much. We went to Hard Rock one time, and walked all over Tokyo. We did Karaoke twice, I think. But it was a good week.
There were some drawbacks though. On Thursday, March 29th, Gilbert sent Andre and I to Narita to pick up Francois, who was coming in from France. We got there and waited and waited. Then we asked the information desk to page him. Then we asked if he was even on the flight, but they can't give out that information for security, which is cool. So we went up to the airline check in counter, which was closed. I used polite Japanese to get in, and then the staff helped me locate our friend who was still in London. Someone got the day wrong, but it gave me and Andre and good chance to talk. I won't say who made the mistake...but his name starts with G and rhymes with Ill Bear.
Apparently this sort of thing happens a lot with the time change. So if you come to Japan, please check your tickets carefully and even confirm it with the travel agents.