Welcome to a new year everybody. First of all, I guess I should congratulate all of you in still being alive. The world didn't end after-all. So for all of you reading this that actually bought into those 2012, end-of-the-world scenarios, I'm sorry you're probably disappointed at this point ya big dummy. As for me, it's been a long winter vacation that has felt even longer. Why is that exactly?
I had a pretty good vacation for the most part. I'm still on vacation actually, but it's winding down now and I'm coasting through the last days before work starts back up again. As I said previously, I spend my winter vacation in Fukuoka with a friend and we made our way to Osaka for a couple of days to visit Universal Studios Japan. First of all, Fukuoka is a cool city with plenty to do and their downtown area of Tenjin is a lot of fun to walk around. Speaking of which, I was walking downtown by myself when I was suddenly approached by a new teams that were starting right at me. The reporter asked if I had a minute and if it was okay to interview me on my thoughts of Christmas in Japan. I said, "sure, let's do it", and he proceeded to ask me questions like, "what do you think about the decorations? How does it compare to where you're from? Is there anything strange about how Japan celebrates Christmas?", etc. I basically told them that Japan has a good Christmas-feel compared to LA because of the cold weather and nice lights and decorations. It feels like a proper winter. I did say the tradition of getting a bucket of KFC chicken for Christmas dinner was a bit odd, but I wasn't knocking it. Most Japanese don't have ovens to even consider cooking a turkey or ham in. Anyhoo, it was a fun, quirky experience that I'll definitely keep in the memory bank when this adventure is over
When we arrived in Osaka, the station was insanely crowded because of snow having delayed many of the trains. People were basically stranded but we were luckily at our destination in Osaka, so talk about dodging a bullet. Universal Studios was a good time, but let me suggest, and this may seem like a big no-brainer, but I don't recommend going in the winter time. It was absolutely freezing, yet still incredibly crowded, and the lines for all of the rides were around an hour plus. I was crazy enough to go on the Hollywood Dream rollercoaster which just blew freezing winds against my face at incredible speed. Hindsight being what it is, I still had a good time. Oh, and to fill my nerd-craving for all things K-on!, they had a big K-on! section of the park that's there until the end of the year in celebration of the movie. I took some pictures but there were some hardcore nerds there with heavy duty cameras taking tons of pictures from multiple angles. Good times. I must admit, being used to the Hollywood Universal Studios, it's quite strange walking around a nearly-identical park in a different country where you sometimes have to remind yourself that you aren't home. Before leaving Osaka, walking back to the hotel, we came across some streets performers by the name of Akidori and they were awesome. I watched them perform and I was really diggin' it so I decided to buy there album from them. They were really grateful and happy to hear that I liked them, and they were cool enough to open the album and autograph it for me. Plus they took some pics with me. Really a cool experience. Here's a link to the song that really sealed the deal for me (dude can harmonize!):
Akidori - Ageha
It sounds sappy, but being in a different country during the holidays was a bit harder on me than I expected. I didn't break down and sob or anything like that, but I certainly found myself pining for friends, family and familiar locations more than I thought I would. That being said, I miss you guys (not the strangers that come across this blog and happen to read it, but you're cool), and I plan to visit when the next vacation opportunity arises. I go back to work in a few days and I'm a bit stressed because I'm going straight in parent observations but if I can handle them on my first week of work, I can certainly handle them after 3 months of experience. Wish me luck and I'll be sure to post about that experience as well.
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| HO HO HO! |
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| Christmas at Universal |
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| What up? |
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| K-on! tree |
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| Satomi Sato (Ritsu) handprints |
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