Merry Christmas

This Christmas is going to be a weird one. I have to really go out of my way to make it even remotely seem like Christmas is around me this year. I knew it would be like this, but knowing that I’ll be missing all the festive activities with Mindy, my family and her family is still a bummer no matter how you look at it. Nonetheless, there is always next year so I’ll have to double down on the festivities then.

I’ll be at school on Christmas Day but I plan on eating chicken and cake during my lunch to celebrate Japanese style since that’s what a lot of people here think is the traditional style meal. You should see how busy it is at KFC. It’s crazy town. I’m tempted to go, but battling the lines and the long wait times don’t seem like a fun way to spend the time.

Also, I have to prepare a short little presentation on a movie review on the 26th. Naturally, I’m choosing Scott Pilgrim vs the World since it’s got a great mix of pop culture and some Canadiana mixed in. So needless to say, I’ll be studying on Christmas, like a good boy. Did you hear that Santa?

We did have a pretty rad Christmas Eve dinner tonight. Homemade pizza and various types of fried meats (beef, pork, fish, etc.) but all roads lead to chicken always tasting the best. There was also a cake, but everyone ate so much dinner that there was no room for dessert. Alas, we can go crazy on the cake tomorrow.

I hope you all have a great Christmas holiday and really cherish the moments you have with others. Those specific moments will only ever happen once, so don’t let them pass carelessly.

I also hope you find your Christmas Unicorn.

n_n

Please enjoy this little Christmas tune courtesy of the super cool Sufjan Stevens.

Nabana no Sato

As previously mentioned, my shenanigans didn't end on Saturday when I left Nagoya and returned back home in Okazaki.

No, they were only just beginning.

After returning, I spent a little bit of time in my room and then hung out with the family until it was time for dinner. During dinner, they asked if I wanted to visit Nabana no Sato, a garden with a special illumination during the winter season. When I asked when, they said right after dinner.

So I soon found myself in the backseat of their van, heading down the expressway towards our end destination. It was about a 40 min drive or so and technically, in a different prefecture, Mie-ken, so I can check off another prefecture off of my list of the many I still need to set my foot in.

It cools off a lot during the evenings now so I am glad I threw on a sweater before heading out since our entire time at the gardens was obviously spent outdoors.

Upon arriving though, we weren't greeted by various flowers, but instead strings and strings of lights everywhere. Thinking about it now, I wonder how long it took the crew to set this all up and also, how many individual lights was I surrounded by. Too many. Naturally, I didn't take many pictures of the lights cause that's way too cool.

The most impressive sights though were the trees (with momiji) along a pond that were reflecting perfectly along the surface of the water. My pictures don't do the the sight any justice.

After proceeding through a massive light tunnel where everyone and their mom wanted to take pictures, we were introduced to the main attraction, a giant backdrop to recreate a mountain forest scene. From here, well, was an amazing light show supported by different music tracks.

In the video below, this is just one of the short light shows that was on display. I think the entire loop took about 15 min and was comprised of probably 5 or 6 short themes.

Viewing this spectacle was definitely worth the price of admission and definitely secured this as something I was glad to participate in.

After heading back to the main area, we did some omiyage (souvenir) shopping since our ticket included a voucher to buy stuff at their shop. It was a use it or lose it sort of thing so I ended up buying some random stuff which is to be kept a secret for now.

So yah, if you're ever randomly in Japan at this time of year and enjoy lights, music and action, go to Nabana no Sato. And then maybe catch a film after to really solidify an awesome day in Japan.

Nagoya Castle

Over the weekend I got up to a number of shenanigans. One such example is my visit to Nagoya Castle which just so happened to be my very first visit to this city. I was told that it’s the 3rd largest city in Japan and by the crowds encountered, yah, it definitely felt like it.

Actually, the crowds at the castle were quite tame, wait times for anything that we wanted to see were either non-existent or minimal at worst. The crowds that we did encounter is when we left the castle grounds and headed to some of the main shopping and entertainment districts. But for a Saturday, nothing less would be expected.

Anyways, back to the castle. I quite enjoyed my time here although the castle itself is in need of some repairs and thus entry into the castle is forbidden at this time. Actually, there were parts of the castle grounds that we couldn’t visit as well since they were also under construction.

However, I always appreciate the fact that I am standing on soil that has such a strong history and I always love to imagine what life would have been like for those that that lived, worked and/or fought in these areas.

One of the best things was that the fall colours (momiji) was still in abundance as many of the trees hadn’t lost their leaves yet. So, I was really able to enjoy the nice colours with the castle in background.

There were a few random activities taking place around the grounds that included a Ninja show which we didn’t watch, but that’s okay. Ninjas are invisible anyways so it would have been a pretty boring show. n_n

There was also some random dude dressed as a Samurai standing about with an umbrella who somehow attracted a long line of lady fans waiting to meet him, get stuff signed and chat him up. I guess he was no random guy to those people but it was interesting to see how giddy his fans were as soon as they got their turn meet him. I unashamedly stood around for a few minutes watching these people interact with him which was oddly fun.

Naturally, I didn’t take pictures of that cause it didn’t seem like my place to do so. So, here’s more momiji for you.