Birthday Hakone Trip

Well, it is my 26th birthday and I can't believe I am so old. Not only that I am so old, but that I have spent two birthdays in Japan already. For my birthday, I went to Hakone, an area in the mountains, relatively close to where I live, that is popular for it's hot springs.

I went on a day that was rather snowy and rainy, as well as extremely cold. Pictured here is me and my broken umbrella, which I threw away at the end of my trip because it was so annoying.

One of the main attractions of going to Hakone, for me, was riding the ropeway cars. It is a small little car with a few seats that takes you far above the mountains. It was kind of scary at first, but fun.

On a good day, you can see Mt. Fuji. However, as you can see, I did not go on a good day. It was really cold and there was no heat in the little cars so my feet were numb by the time I got out.

When we got out of the ropeway cars we arrived at a small station. They were doing some celebration for the Chinese New Year, I think. They had taiko drumming and a rice drink called Amazaki, which I tried (for the second time; the first being last weekend at the mochi making festival), and they were giving away free gifts, which I was lucky enough to win (a keychain charm and a handkerchief).

After that, i boarded the above pictured ship and sailed across the cold and misty waters, seeing the bright red Japanese traditional gates in the water and freezing to death while fighting with my broken umbrella as the wind blew it inside out. This part was really fun, though. Maybe the first time I have been on a boat this big...

After sailing across the Lake we took a bus back to the small hot spring town of Hakone. We went to the popular and famous hot spring called Tenzan and enjoyed a hot soak in the water. It was very nice, although it was an outdoor bath so when you got out of the water it was quite cold. I was happy to get home that night and enjoy the comforts of my warm apartment and bed.

The next day, on my actual birthday, I went to the newly opened (and only existing) Wendy's in Japan! It is so delicious and I have never been so happy to go to Wendy's before. I got the baconator double and a chili and cheese baked potato for my birthday dinner.

Mochi Making Festival

This weekend I had to go to school and make mochi (rice cakes) with the fathers of my students. I thought it would be pretty boring, but it actually turned out to be fun. Making mochi is a Japanese tradition where you mash rice with a mallet until it becomes all gooey and yummy...

They cooked the rice outside by heating it in these wooden things over fire.

Once it was finished, they put it in this hollowed out wooden stump and used these mallets to mash it down.

After that, you will see that there is lots of banging and hitting involved to make the rice become smooth and gooey. After hitting about 5 of these big blobs of rice, my hand was seriously hurting. Luckily, we got to rest and eat the mochi afterwards!

New Years

New Years has come and gone. It was kind of boring, spending the holidays in Tokyo. It's kind of what I was expecting, though, since I was planning on staying home most of the time.

I did manage to get out some and enjoy the bitterly cold weather.

During New Years, everyone puts one of these up on their doors for some reason. I don't know why, but I did not participate.

Stopped into a cozy ramen shop for a big bowl of deliciousness to escape the cold.

I visited this shrine in Ueno and visited with a Japanese friend to have sushi. I was too much of a coward to try some of the sushi, so I stuck with shrimp, salmon, and egg sushi.

This is a shopping street, named after America.