Yay! Presents! I opened my gifts early, on Dec. 23 (the Emperor's birthday!) in Ito. My favorite?
Nintendo DS styluses modeled after Darth Vader's red, Obi Wan Kenobi's blue and Luke Skywalker's green lightsabers. Sweet!
The closest thing I came to a "Christmas cake" (which is apparently an integral part of the Japanese Christmas experience) was this "rare" cheesecake from the convenience store. It wasn't bad. In my experience, Japanese sweets are 20 - 60% as delicious as they look. Insult to their taste, or compliment to their appearance? You be the judge!
Since my Christmas tree options were limited to what I could buy at the 100 yen store, but also unlimited, as in: as tacky as I wanted! So of course when I saw this little pale pink one, I had to get it. That's a snow man hand puppet on top, if you care to know.
Were the tiny lightsabers the best? Or what is the Reese's peanut butter cups? (Already consumed.)
I went to Nagoya on Christmas Eve, hoping to meet up with some friends. However, some problems arose with illness and other complications, so I ended up solo for the night. I did, however, find a junior high choir / orchestra performance near the main park in Nagoya, so I took in some Christmas music.
This lighted tree was actually really impressive, with spinning word messages, shifting colors, changing patterns ... I got a photo when it was green.
The area around Nagoya station was decorated with festive Christmas dolphins!
On Christmas day, I started out wandering around Nagoya City.
I decided to head toward the port, where I hadn't been since a group trip the first week I was a student at NUFS. I ate at Red Lobster (!) and went to the big aquarium there.
When turtles move too slow for your camera to affectively capture, it might be time to invest in a new model.
Penguins!
Dolphins!
I had my friend's engagement party (my main reason for going to Nagoya) on the evening of Christmas, but I did manage to make a quick trip to Nagoya Castle in the rain.
Afterward, I had a nice time seeing my friends and meeting some new ones for supper.
On the shinkansen (bullet train) ride home, I got to pass by Mt. Fuji looking its Mt. Fuji-est. My camera was out of batteries, but I still got some nice shots on my phone.
Fuji city is also Japan's paper-making capital, which I think is the reason for the many smokestacks (?) there.
If you've never ridden on the Shinkansen, it's quite nice (provided you buy a reserved seat). It looks like an airplane, but roomier.
Even enough space for me to just throw my luggage in front of me, which is niiice. If you don't have a reserved seat, it's just as nice... except that you might have to stand.
Probably a second update to come regarding my winter break, but that's about all of my Christmas-y information. Hope everyone is having happy holidays!
