Heh. I am (apparently) getting a lot of traffic to the site from a google search for “yokohama strip club(s)”. Referencing, of course, the day I went exploring and accidentally found the seedy neighborhood.
I’m sure they’re disappointed.
Google Analytics is too fun. I get easily sucked in to all the things you can track.
If I can say anything about Disney, it’s that the magic is in the details. Disney resorts do an impeccable job of paying attention to the minutia of a scene.
We waited FOR EVER to get into Disney. When the park opens at 9 and you get there at 10 and don’t get in until 11:30, you should just instinctively know that you won’t be going on that many rides. The waits for everything were *long*. It’s Disney. It’s Japan. I should have know.
Luckily, standing in line gave us a good chance to people watch. There’s a fashion trend here that I just can’t wrap my head around. It’s the winter-shorts. Often fur lined, often worn with a combination of tights, knee socks, and/or tall boots (or all three!).
When your only complaint about a day is that it’s too sunny to smile into photos, you’re in good shape.
One of the areas in Disney Sea was Venice, where they offered gondola rides. After hearing that there was a 70 minute wait, we opted out and talked about how great it would be to actually GO to Venice instead. More on that later.
Little did we know that a 70 minute wait would be a welcome relief from lines that averaged 2-3 hours. The “fastpass” was of little help – while you could pick up a new one every two hours, the second one we got wasn’t good until 9pm that night. 10 hours of Disney is too much and we never made it back.
(notice how everything is in English first. Regardless of being surrounded by 99% japanese people, I felt like I was in america today.)
Breaking theme from the “ports” was the Aladdin section. Last I remember, Aladdin was set in a dessert. Regardless, I was *stoked* about this because Jasmine’s my favourite princess and the folks at Disneyland hate on her because she’s not white. (if anyone can offer up an alternate reason why she’s not in disneyland at all, I will retract my statement.) Anyways, hoping to get my Jasmine fix for the year, I RAN into Aladdin town. Heartbroken. I found no traces of Jasmine, no traces of Aladdin or that cute little monkey (Apu). It was all Genie, all the time. I think maybe they don’t love on the princesses as little American girls do because they actually HAVE princesses here. Maybe the novelty is lost.
Jon indulged me and agreed to go on the carousel, where I reconciled my differences with Genie as we jammed to “a whole new world”.
Towards the end of the day we saw a light house, which always makes us think of jon’s mom:
Japan in the Winter is good. But Japan in the Spring? Oh, springtime is going to be fabulous. I can already tell.
It’s been beautiful here lately. Crisp, spring days followed by really pleasant evenings. The trees are starting to bud and the flower-lined streets are starting to smell beautiful. I bought some sakura (cherry-blossom) perfume to celebrate. I mean, if the hobos gets to smell pretty, shouldn’t I?
During the day, the parks are full of children playing and the decrepitly old reading news papers on benches. It’s energizing to be around. The shift in season seems to be one of those inspiring times of year for people everywhere in the world. It’s always comforting to see cross-cultural-constants.
It’s 54 degrees right now, at 10:20am – my weather widget tells me to expect a high of 68. 68 just may be the perfect temperature to exist in. I think I’m in love.
Seattle beware. You may just get back a short-skirt-wearing, cheery version of Michelle.
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