遅れてしまいましたごめんなさい

Sorry for the delays! I have no excuse, really, I just keep forgetting.

Anyways, my last big Japan Event was going to Shinjuku last weekend. Shinjuku is deep in the heart of downtown Tokyo, filled with large buildings and things that look cool. Here are some of them!



Here's a planty thing that was outside the station!

The following pictures were all taken in one spot! I'd collage them together but I'm too lazy.



Now, my primary destination here is a building that acts as both City Hall and a Badass Observatory from which you can see all of Tokyo.

This is the building that I thought was it, but was totally wrong. I had lunch there.


This is a building that looks interesting but is clearly under construction. My host parents didn't know anything about it.


Aha! Here it is.


The plaza/park thing near it is awesome.


Japan has the best trees ever. Seriously. They're just so green.



Plaza under the building! It's pretty snazzy. Kind of italian.


It even has statues that are not at all Japanesey.


Anyone know who these two are? Can't be Adam and Eve because they have clothes. Something about the apple of Eris, maybe?


And then I went into the building, and I saw Tokyo!


And... it's really big.


Like, huge.


It just keeps going. In every direction.


Some sort of free market thing goin' on down there.


God, it's so big.


I'm just gonna start letting the pictures speak for themselves.







OKAY Back on the ground now.
Other things that exist in Shinjuku:

Astrological clock that I can't read!


Hilariously overblown sign for a karaoke joint!


Really busy shopping district!


Oh man. I saw this in a row of movie posters. I didn't know what it was, but I decided immediately that it didn't matter - I was going to assume for my own entertainment that it was a Japanese heavy-metal rock opera rendition of Shakespeare's Macbeth.

The best part? I was right.

Anyways, the next quality bit was Shinjuku Gyoen, a giant Japanese style garden. It took be a healthy amount of time, but I did manage to go all the way around it. Here are pictures:


















OKAY I'm spent. More later; I'm going to Akihabara in about an hour.

北海道

SO YES, I was supposed to post about this what, a week ago? Sorry for the delay.

Hokkaido was entertaining, in a strange sort of way. I apologize, but I didn't take a great deal of pictures - this trip was more for meeting with friends than for fantastic sightseeing. I spend the majority of the weekend in a very small town called Esashi. Here are some pictures of it:



A nice park right near where I was staying. We were planning to set off fireworks here, but various circumstances involving rain and illness led to that being impossible.


Esashi is a port town! Hence the anchorclock statue of quality. I do have some pictures of the sea, but it's not a particularly photogenic coastline.


I really like this sign. Its message is displayed succinctly and unmistakably - keep going and your car will forever plunge into the briny depths.
The only problem is that as of taking this picture, the sea is behind me...


There were some buddha statues here, which someone had put little pink cloaks on, for no discernible reason. Bizarre? Very yes!

And who doesn't like shrines and temples? I hope you're not getting tired of them, because I'm not gonna stop posting pictures of them!








I always, always want to ring the bell.


This last one is of particular note for being right next to a preschool.

Speaking of schools, this monstrosity is right outside the local elementary school:


Jesus Christ.

Anyways, more significantly of note in recent exciting activites was a Mikoshi parade that came to Machida last weekend. I went to check it out with my American friend, Janna. It was huge, it was loud, it was beautiful, and I have pictures!



That's it, the green and gold thing! Each one was being carried by about 20-50 people; I believe there were fourteen in all.
This picture in particular strikes me as very Japan, with the traditional shinto shrine in the foreground and the perky anime mascot on the sign in the background. Collision of the old and the new.






Demons! Good heavens. They're not very easy to see in this video, but there were definitely some demons in the parade.
In the background is my shoutout to Seattle.


There! A better shot of a scheming demon in action. There's no knowing what mischief they were up to.







Good heavens, I took a lot of pictures. This isn't even half of them!



Here's one that wasn't being carried around. And hey, it's Janna!

INTERMISSION

Here's me and Janna getting our picture taken with an inexplicable giant bunny outside a local arcade. I think it was somehow affiliated with the arcade? I don't really know. I'm pretty sure that costume has no eyeholes, and the person in it is either very small or very uncomfortable.

Anyways, back to the mikoshi!


More demons!


This was near the end of the event, when they stopped and did some dancing and whatnot. This kind of thing is kind of hard to capture in still photos... so I won't try to!


Holy crap! I can post videos. My camera does not seem to have captured sound, for which I apologize.
Here's another one, of the procession in general:



And now back to your regularly scheduled photos!

Here's a small one being carried by young people!


Here's one being violently shaken from side to side! I understand this is traditional, and also dangerous.
I tried, I TRIED to catch this on video, but they were always done by the time I could get my camera into video mode.


Here's the biggest one!


Here's one being carried only by women!


Aaaand done. I'm exhausted, and I have class tomorrow, so I'm ending this post!