Final Entry...

Oh wow! It has finally reached the time where this blog must be closed until the next time I go to Japan... But overall, I had an awesome adventure in Japan and can't wait for marching season to start now...

My experiences in Japan also made me realize I act more Japanese than American. The way I move, talk, interest, and think all leans towards Japanese. But since I am a halfie (Half Japanese, half American), my height and how I act around people is American... for the most part :P

Here are some pictures to finish off the blog. The first picture of me is when I felt like Amuro from Gundam when he hadn't slept in awhile because he was trying to keep off the evil Char from destroying Earth Federation's White Base.


This is me getting up from a 16 hour sleep and now I am totally jet-lagged. (That's also why I am shirtless) I look I got beat up :P

Okay, time to get cleaned up and suited into a mobile suit.

**Initiate Showering Systems**
"Ahh! Forgot how to use my shower, I hate pouring cold water on immediately."
**End Showering Systems**


Suited into a mobile suit. Ready for action! Leo out!

I just wanted to say thanks for all the people that commented because that made it worth it to type more! I just hope I made it enjoyable to read and I hope your summer is going AWESOME as well! :D

**P.S.** This has got to be the most nerdiest thing I did :P

:~Status Update~: #4

I had a fun time in Japan but it is finally time for me to return home in Austin, Texas. I am leaving for Narita Airport in about 3 hours and will fly home. I'll have one last blog entry once I reach my house in Mueller. I have no idea if I am prepared for the Texas heat but as soon as I get there, marching band practice will start. So excited!

Thanks for reading my blogs so far and I hoped you enjoyed them! :D

Odaiba! お台場！I'm coming Amuro!

The last adventure I will have in Japan! Odaiba! On July 28th, I went to an artificial man-made island called Odaiba. Odaiba is in Tokyo and famous for being for its many attractions. I went to Odaiba with my brother, my brother's friend, and my uncle. My mom and sisters went to Disney Land. Check it out!

The train ticket to go to Odaiba. It was sky blue, I've never seen a train ticket that color. Train tickets are usually brown.

When we reached Odaiba, the first thing we did was go see the 1/1 scale Gundam robot. Actually the day before I went there, I was researching about Gundam by watching the first original series called Mobile Suit Gundam. This Gundam robot statue was built to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Gundam. Apparently on the opening of the statue, the creator of Gundam and other famous showed up to introduce this robot. This statue will stand for only the summer break and will be torn down. It truly is a once in a life time experience! Look at the pictures of this awesome robot!

Can you see Gundam behind the trees. If only it would actually walk or fly...

From behind. The boosters are awesome!

Getting closer...

... And closer...

BAM! Earth Federation RX-87 Gundam! 18 meters tall! Geek-meter to the MAX!!!

Do you think I will make an awesome pilot for Gundam? Gotta work on my poses like in the anime series.

After watching this Gundam statue, I visited most of the popular attractions in Odaiba!

Rainbow Bridge!

Fuji Television Building. Where most of the comedy television shows are broadcasted. Cool design for a building.

Replica of Statue of Liberty. It is VERY tiny compared to the real one in New York.

Joypolis, a game center! This place was soo huge! Famous American actors came here and there is so much to do!

Small China Town upstairs... a bit blurry...

The pass to get inside Joypolis. Shiny!

The coolest racing video game ever! It is a video game made for the famous racing anime series called Initial D. Check out the video, the whole car moves as you turn! Sorry, sound doesn't work :(

The blue racing car I drove in. They have seat belts you have to put on!

Me inside the car.

Here is an Olympic video game where you run, jump hurdles, and other activites! This video is 100 meter dash.

Do you know that awesome arcade game where you kill zombies called House of the Dead? Well, here is a video game specially made for House of the Dead 4! It was a lot of fun! :D

When you enter the booth, you sit in a seat and you are strapped in. You hold your gun and shoot like the normal arcade game. But what's "special" about it is that there are two screens! One in front of you and one behind you. As enemies pop up behind you, the seat you are in rotates really fast to the screen behind you. Then you keep shooting and as the character moves his head front and backwards, so fun!!!

Famous people comes here to Joypolis so there are autographs on the walls. Here is Michael Jackson's back in 1996. Will you become famous enough to sign the walls of Joypolis?

Shonen Jump store and gallery.

WANTED: Texas Burger. The ingredients to make the burger sounds like a burger from Texas except for the size :P

A Japanese traditional game center. Me sitting on the first Kamen Rider! :D

After walking about and playing games for many many hours, it finally became 6:30pm. At 7 o'clock, there will be a night show at the Gundam statue. So we left to go there...

Gundam statue at night. The light it up!

Another angle.

Check out the night show! The head moves around, lots are shot from its eyes and body, and there is a mist/smoke effect that makes it looks like Gundam is ready to fly! Sorry that the sound doesn't work but I'm sure there are plenty of videos on YouTube to make up for it.

After the night show. I'm glad that I came to Odaiba!

Fuji Television Building at night.

For dinner, we ate at a Chinese restaurant. Seriously, the best Chinese food I have ever had! This is a hot and sour soup ramen noodle dish with fried rice with pork pop-stickers. So good! :D

Nagano Prefecture! 長野県！Part 2

We finally met up with our relatives. We met our grandmother's niece. She has three kids, so live in a house with a total of five people. First thing we did together was visit the family cemetery up in the mountains. 

Here is my mom paying respect to our family members that passed away.

360 degree view of Nagano.

After we came down from the family cemetery, we went to a toy store. This store had the coolest toys! There was a lot of toys from America so check 'em out!

I remember when I had one of these figures when I was a kid. It's Earthworm Jim!

Kamen Rider Black! My favorite super hero! :D

The store, so many toys!

A human-sized Red Comet from the Gundam series. He's a bad guy.

Neo-Human Casshern! Ready to blast off, so cool!

After that, we came back to my grandmother's sister's house. We had a birthday party for my brother and a son of my grandmother's niece. 

After eating we went to a festival, and here is the birthday boy, Masahiro. He is just one year younger than my brother but he was small!

The birthday cake. Snoopy on top of the ice cream cake.

The next day, the whole family went on bicycles to go to a mountain where my mom and niece would come and play when they were kids. It was truly a magical place, something that would appear in Princess Mononoke.

A traditional Japanese house with a traditional fireplace.

A replica of a missile used in World War II for submarines. Japanese people would actually lay down inside the missiles and pilot them. What Japanese people would do in the name of Honor...

I found some shells of Cicadas, haha! :D

A live Cicada we caught. You can see Masahiro with the baseball cap. On the left is Yuki, the oldest son.

The view inside. So green!

Look at all the hawks at the fish market!

Late at night we played with fireworks and spent the night. The next day our cousin took us home by car. It was a three hour car ride through mountainous places and cities. I definitely would like to come back to Nagano!

Nagano Prefecture! 長野県！Part 1

After the awesome time at Atami, we went straight to Nagano Prefecture for July 24th~26st. Our purpose of going to Nagano is to visit some relatives! I've never met any Japanese relatives other than my grandparents so I was very excited. From Atami, we went on a train back to Tokyo. From Tokyo station, we boarded a shinkansen (bullet train). Nagano was the host of the Olympics in 1998 so luckily there was a easy 1 hour bullet train ride into this VERY mountainous place. While I was riding in the train, my ears start to pop since it is so much higher than the water level. Nagano is famous for its delicious milk and mountains (for ski resorts and onsens). Check out what I did!

Map of Japan with Nagano Prefecture shaded in brown. It's big and two prefectures away from Tokyo.

Shinkansen with Pokemon!

Took a pit stop to get some lunch. This is something my mom used to always get when she was a kid and it is called Kama Meshi. Chicken, apricot, Japanese chestnut, egg, peas, and other vegetables all over rice. Mixing different flavors made it an awesome lunch!

Me inside the hotel room after I went to the onsen. Ahh, my body felt so good!

Buffet in the hotel. I think I ate too much X.X

Entrance to a huge mountainous park. Inside Kai Park, there is an amusement park, zoo, spacious field, bridges, and old Shogun buildings.

First thing we did was hit the zoo. This zoo was SERIOUSLY the BEST zoo I have ever went to. All the animals were actually ACTIVE. Like they move about by themselves and do stuff. Check it out!

This Black Bear was playing with a big stick and banging against the wall. After awhile he got tired and fell asleep.

Oh man, these lions. When my family walked up my sister yelled something and the lion immediately stood up and did a low growl. My family moved on to see other animals so I was left alone with the lions. I started to make lion growling noises, and the lion stood up. He walks over to the female lion and mounts O.O Wait... And they get it going on until the female growls and the male dismounts... Did I growl a message to the male to do that?

This bird tried pecking through the fence at me :P

My favorite Ajisai (Hydrangea).

View of Nagano from Kai Park.

This Hydrangea was a very deep purple. Very cool :)

Archery Range

These monkeys would make loud hilarious sounds and fight each other!

This girl was so entertaining to watch!

Monkey swinging while eating :D