Summer Vacation

For the summer break, I had one week off work (Thurs to Wed).  I wasn't feeling much in the mood to travel during heat here, but I did get out to go to a few places.

The first place I went to was Enoshima.  I had been there once before, but hadn't seen the beach area, nor the caves that are on the far side of the island.

We took a boat from Katase-Enoshima to the caves entrance.

Entering the caves.

Beautifully painted lamps lined the walkways.

After touring around, we hiked up the back side of the island - there were SO many steps!  It was a hot day already, and going from the cool temperatures underground to the heat of the sun was shocking.  We trudged up though and enjoyed the views.

Fashionable cafe - with a kitty napping in the shade.

Finally, we headed down the front of the island and through the shops.  We didn't buy anything, except a snack to cool from the heat.  I had an ice cream cone with mixed flavors: mango and strawberry.  It was very yummy.  

Before calling it a day, we relaxed for a bit on the beach.  We hadn't planned on swimming, so instead we people-watched or just enjoyed the atmosphere for a bit.  It was interesting since many people believe Japanese are very conservative, especially with skin exposure.  This is definitely not true when you go to a beach.  They don't hold back on skimpy suits or loud behavior.  And it was so surprising to see many with super dark skin. 

Beach view of Enoshima island.  We hiked up to that tower in the distance!

The other major place I visited was Asakusa (up in the northeastern part of Tokyo).  I was joined for the day by a training friend and we explored a few things:

1.  Asakusa Station and surroundings

Station entrance - old style building felt pretty classic.

Crossing the street into shopping districts.

There were several winding streets.  This one has two streets down one pathway.  Very quaint and fun to explore.

2.   Asakusa Temples

Interior of the temple - the gold colors were so lavish.

This street headed down to the temple, but was lined with tons of shops.  I liked the shrubs lining the roofs the entire way.

Buddha statue in the garden beside the temple.

3.  Tokyo Sky Tree - The tallest tower in the world at 2,080 ft.  It is a broadcasting and observation tower, which includes many shops, restaurants, and even an aquarium below it.

View from the top of the station building.

Standing below - view looking up.  It was so tall!  I underestimated how far I needed to tilt my head the first time and ending up getting a crick in my neck and knocking my sunglasses off!

4.   Sumido Aquarium  - Located under the Skytree.

So pretty!  Loved the colors.

Simple, yet beautiful.

Moon Jellyfish!  They had several tanks in with different background lights (red, purple, etc) to see the clear jellyfish in.

These weird guys are actually eels!  I thought they were worms at first.  They all just chill there and sway slightly.  They're pretty small, too - about the size and width of a pencil.

Large tank - there was a big shark circling the top at all times and many types of fish milling about inside.

5.   Fireworks

Summer means yukata and fireworks to many Japanese people.  I figured I couldn't go the summer without at least checking one festival out.  Back home, firework shows are usually 15-20 minutes long at most... Japan loves fireworks and a show is often over an hour long!  I attended the Tokyo Bay Grand Fireworks festival on Aug. 10.  They launch over 15,000 fireworks over a 90 minute period -- crazy, huh? 

Knowing this would be a popular event, we decided to watch from a point on the far side of the bay.  We thought most people would go up to Odaiba or out on boats and such.  Never having traveled this part of Tokyo, my friend and I were absolutely shocked at the level of people trying to transfer at the Shimbashi station.  We needed to get on the Yurikamome rail to cross the bay.  Look at all these people!

Packed!  We shuffled our way for almost 45 minutes to transfer trains.

Even when we entered the Yurikamome rail building, staff was directing the crowd around a few corners and flights of stairs before we even got to the platform.  Once there, it was a mad house to get on a train.  I'm sure some people have heard that Japan is known to actually have train staff push people on the trains as doors are closing.  I had heard of it to, but never really seen it before.  This time, I saw it RIGHT in front of me!  The girl in front of me considered trying to get on the already-crammed train and seeing her interest, the staff immediately jumped forward to force her on.  He was pushing with all his might and the door closed on her foot and then he pushed that in too!  It was crazy!  Those of us waiting had a moment of comraderie as we laughed in shock and hoped that wouldn't happen to us next.

I wasn't pushed on the train, but I did have to balance in a very awkward position for about 10 minutes until he could push our way off the train.  Getting on was one thing, and then once we were packed in - we thought: crap, how are we going to get off?  We made it to our station though and soon realized that all the locals were out to see the fireworks too.  

We considered grabbing dinner at a restaurant, but considering the crowds, decided to just go to the convenient store to grab some food and drinks to enjoy during the show.  That turned into another 45 minute battle and made me so grateful we thought to come early.  We needed all that time and more as we finally found some spots off a side street to sit in the crowd on the ground and watch the fireworks:

In an attempt to miss the crowds, and concerned about getting on the right trains to get home in time, we left early.  We stayed about 45 minutes and were starting to get bored with it.  I guess we are too used to the shorter shows back home.  Even still, when we reached the platform and tried to get on the train... we were stuck.  The first train that came was absolutely packed!  There was no way we could even get a foot in the door or try to force our way on.  We really didn't want to get pushed on by a staff, so we waited for the next train.  And then the next train... by then we started to consider walking 20 minutes to another station if only to try and find a different train line that we could bored.  But, that wasn't too appealing as we were tired from the day and it was getting late.  We decided to wait for one more train... sure enough, two people got off so we quickly approached the car and triggered a staff to come running to help us.  As much as we had tried to avoid it, we got pushed forcibly on!  When I saw how packed it was, I hesitated to get on, but the staff made me go on and just kept pushing until the door barely closed behind me!  Ahhh, it was so horrible and uncomfortable - definitely a unique experience here that I had to share.  Sigh, I whined about it out loud to my friend and made a couple of the Japanese people around me laugh in amusement.  Everyone was hot (don't forget it's super hot and humid even at night) and we were all crammed in like sardines, as my friend put it.  I was so happy to burst out of that train when we reached Shimbashi station once again and could transfer to a different line.  From there, we each made our own way home.

Summer vacation kind of flew by for me...  The heat was overbearing and a few days were spent just relaxing around my local town or at home.