Luxury in Tokyo

Well, Monday was fantastic...

I went to Akasaka, Tokyo to get my hair cut at a hair salon named Shape - http://www.shape-salon.com/english/index.html - check it out!!!

It was seriously the MOST pampered haircut I have EVER had. I sat down and had a small consultation with Dan, yes his name is really Dan. Ha! About what I was interested in doing to my hair. He speaks English and the other stylists speak a little to zero ENGLISH. I told him the color I wanted and how I wanted it cut.

The next thing I know I am having not one but two people literally PAINTING my hair :) The brush was paint brush on one side and comb on the other :) It was so fun! I then waited for about 20 minutes for it to process. In the mean time, I was asked if I wanted something to drink. I simply asked, "oh, what do you have?" then several options were given to me. I chose Jasmine tea how fantastic, right?!

After the hair color was processed I was taken over to the sinks where they wash your hair. I was asked to sit down. They even gave me a blanket to cuddle with! They gave my head a scalp massage and then washed and conditioned my hair...it was amazing! I was then in for a treat once I got back to my chair.

They gave me a 10-15 minute scalp, neck, and shoulder massage with a menthol "lotion"...it was to die for!!! :) I then had my hair cut by this adorable woman named Reiko :) She spoke very little English and I spoke my very little Japanese and we had fun! She asked me if I had enough time and I said yes, take your time. She ended up cutting my hair for over an hour! It was amazing :) I then had two women drying my hair. She then cut layers into my hair after it was cut!

I give SHAPE salon a nice huge good rating ***** :) oh and to top it off I received 20% off because it was my first visit!!!

Anyway, had to share my little "first" visit to a hair salon in Japan, I will definitely go back!



Reiko and I in Shape Salon...I needed to mess my hair up just a bit when she was done...see above! :)

Why are there apples floating in my bath tub?

Well, its been awhile...as always. SORRY!

I've been sick for the past week and a half and am in the process of making my apartment warm! It is starting to get cold here in Japan, dropping into the 50's and 60's...for me that is getting cold especially since the outside temperature means the inside temperature. So I went to JUSCO last night. Jusco is a big department store in Kashima, which is about 15 minutes away from Itako. I bought a down comforter, an area rug for my room, and a rug for my kitchen by the sink so my feet and body don't get cold! I plugged in my "hot fan" two nights ago and man do I feel like I am in the 1950's. I am preparing for the cold before it hits.

Tonight I am going to Tokyo for a big Halloween bash at Club Ageha. It should be fun and of course there will be pictures to follow. But I wanted to tell you about a trip I took two weekends ago. It was so fun! I woke up on Saturday morning and went up to Mito (about 1 hour) and then we traveled by train further north about another hour to Daigo. Daigo is a very barren but beautiful, mountainous area. There is a huge waterfall there :)

After we looked and took pictures at the waterfall some of my friends chose to go on a hike. I personally turned my nose up at a hike (I think I've had enough since Fuji)and had lunch with Amber, Annelyse, Sam, and myself! It was wonderful! We had udon and I ordered matcha tea. The presentation was absolutely beautiful! :)




After we had tea and lunch we walked around the shops and had ice cream :) I had caramel - it was oshkata (delicious, past tense)! We then drove up to the onsen (nude bath). It was definitely an experience but it was really fun! So we get to the onsen and you go to the dressing room and change into well, nothing and then you go into this steamy room with showers and the bath. You shower for as long as you wish washing every part of your body well and then you get into the bath and relax. Since it is the fall there were APPLES in the bath :) it was really fun once we all got over the fact of well you know :)

After about an hour of soaking we got out of the bath, dried off, changed back into our clothes, and went to check in at our adorable hotel! We slept in a traditional Japanese style hotel. I had three in my room including myself :) We slept on the floor :) We found a nice little izakaiya to eat dinner (eating on the floor and sitting on a cushion). We then went back to the hotel changed into pjs and hung out in the lobby until about 1 AM. It was great we were just talking, relaxing, and laughing :)



The next morning we went to a little bakery for breakfast and then we were off to the apple orchard to pick apples! I have never picked apples before but it was just so fun to have the experience!! :) I bought 6 apples. I still have 3 left :) They are still good!

After apple picking we were off to the cooking school to make sweets :) We had a small lesson on how to make __________ (brain poof). But they were fun to make and delicious!!! :) We were given dough balls with apple and pumpkin filling. We flattened the dough balls into small pizza crust looking shapes then we cupped the circle and added either pumpkin or apple into the center. Then you pinched the sides around the center and then we were able to paint the dough with a design! :)




After the cooking school we split off and went to our various homes :) It took me about 3 hours to get home but it was well worth the trek up north. We had such a fun weekend! Hope you enjoyed this little story.

until next time...I will be continuing to love every minute of Japan. My teachers are telling me everyday that my English is getting better and better. My students and I have such a nice relationship :) My students gave me thank you cards today :) I feel so welcomed and so loved here in Japan. I am loving each new day as though it were my last day here...

~miss you guys~ xo

Lauren + Annelyse + Shinkansen (bullet train) -- teaching = nenkyu and the party began for four days on the other side of Japan! :)

The week as you know (or will know if you read this blog first instead of the next) was super busy!! After school on Thursday I raced home and packed my bag. I was then off to the Itako bus station to take the express bus to Tokyo to meet Annelyse! Annelyse and I met around 6:30 and picked up dinner for the train :) We got pizza...yum!

Pizza on the Shinkansen :) YUM!
Getting excited for our trip to Osaka!!

After 2.5 hours of chit chatting and enjoying my first pizza in Japan, we arrived in Osaka! We hopped in a cab and gave our driver our map that the hostel/hotel/apartment provided for us. We made it safe and sound and checked into the "Weekly Mansion Osaka" WOW! It was huge :) Of course, Annelyse and I are looking around and what is the first thing we do? See if we can fit in the closet! SURE ENOUGH, we both fit. Ha Ha! Only us! We are considered short even for Japanese standards.


We got settled in and Annelyse asked me if I was tired. I replied "not really!" So we ventured out on to the streets of Osaka! We found an adorable little dive bar right up the street :) We were the only ones in the bar and our bartender, Aki, spoke a bit of English! We had an absolute blast especially when another guy named solider walked in. He bought Annelyse and I each a drink :) It was nice! He was hilarious! We were going back and forth between English and Japanese the entire time! We left the bar about 1:00 AM and went to bed for a long time!

We woke up, showered, and were out of the "mansion" by 11:15. Ha Ha. We found the subway station and headed for the zoo! We went to Tennoji park where we saw the park, ate a wonderful lunch at their art museum, and went to the zoo! The park had very beautiful flowers. I will post the pictures later. My film is being developed as we speak! We then were hungry and faced with an art musuem. I figured they would have a great cafe, as most art museums do. Sure enough it was great! We had simple chicken and fish with rice and miso. It was enough to keep us going through the zoo! Annelyse and I seem to think some of the animals have issues. Some of them just looked funny. Odd faces, weird growths...you know typical zoo behavior, right?
Polar bear with no ice...hmmm....pour guy
Ha Ha!
Elephant :)
Ha ha!
"monkey bear" Annelyse and I thought this bear was so weird. It is actually a sun bear from Malaysia :)

Riding the rhino!

After the zoo it was about 4PM and we walked across the street to this arcade of shops, restaurants, and crazy street life. We were reeled in with a "Kirin 190 yen" sign. We decided to break get a little snack and a beer :) It was yummy and nice to sit and chat some more! We then walked around the arcade area. Annelyse pointed out a karaoke place! I said lets do it! So we randomly went and did one hour of karaoke :) It was fantastic!

baby and sumo
the famous blow fish!
The sign that reeled us in!
Eiffel Tour/Tokyo Tower of Osaka...

After karaoke we worked our way back to the subway. It was a bit of an adventure to say the very least. Tokyo for starters doesn't really have homeless people. Apparently Osaka does. We were fine and in a safe area. Just a bit odd 1. I never see them and 2. two WHITE girls...hmmmm...need I say more. Anyway, on our way to the station we saw a sign "Deutsches Beer Haus" I had to stop in! German! It is fun I am speaking English, German, and Japanese while I am here :) Or at least trying. So we stopped in for about an hour and had such a lovely time! The owner was so sweet and was also able to speak English, German, and Japanese - fun times! After the restaurant we were on our way back to our mansion to get changed. I wanted to go to a specific area of town so we found it! The area is known for busy night life, cobble streets, and tons of restaurants! We saw an adorable restaurant, went in and ordered dinner :) We had tempura, spring rolls, ika (squid), and a few other things. It was delicious! After dinner we worked our way home...just think this was only one day!!!

I must go to bed now so this be a to be continued post...sorry! I will blog again when I get a chance. Just look forward to more days like this. I will be going to Daigo this weekend so hopefully I will be able to blog Friday evening! We will see :) Miss you all so much!

OKAY, I'm back! SO, Saturday was just as fantastic as Friday! We woke up and meandered to Osaka Castle. It was the one historic site I knew I wanted to go to in Osaka. It was beautiful from the outside and clearly has been gutted and remodeled on the inside, nonetheless, it was great. Annelyse and I stopped at the base and had brunch. We had some really good ramen and then hiked up a hill for about ten minutes to get better views of the castle.

After the castle, we went back to our apartment to drop a few things off. We ended up resting for about half and hour and were back out on the road ;) We went to the coast of Osaka. There we found many great things to do! We went to the IMAX theater! It just so happens to be the biggest IMAX in the world!! :) We saw Deep Sea, narrated by Johnny Deep and Kate Whinslet and Mummies: Secrets of the Pharohs. It was so much fun! In between movies we went to the cafe and grabbed cappicinos and lattes. After the movies we went for a very late lunch! We a nice little pasta dish and wine and talked for a good two hours. After the movies and lunch we walked around and went into this little mall. We went to crocs and claires. At claires, I bought halloweenie stuff! A hairband, earrings, and pumpkin garland! Then it was off to the ferris wheel! Geez was that fun!!! It is one of the largest in the world.




After the ferris wheel we went back to our apartment to get ready for the night! The night was so much fun!! We got to the train station and had no idea how to get to the building we wanted to get to. We could see it and thank goodness we decided to get a cab! We went to the floating garden sky deck! It was absolutely beautiful looking out over all of Osaka at night! We stayed there for about an hour and then ventured to The Westin Osaka.



for sissy :)

After The Westin it was about 11:00PM and we had not eaten yet. SO, it was on an adventure to find something that was open. Well, fortunately for us we ventured around and stumbled upon the most fanstic restaurant I have been to since being in Japan. It was a little french restaurant. At the point, it was about 11:30. Annelyse and I were the only ones in the entire place! It was beautifully lined with wine bottles, wood floors, and wood tables. We first had salad and an appetizer of pork with crustinis and wine, then our lamb came - AMAZING, and then our creme bruele (HOLY COW) with a small (free) glass of port wine! We dined...it was like a movie!





After our evening of bliss we caught a cab home and went to sleep :)

Sunday was wonderful, kinda. We ventured to Kyoto, the land of a TON of temples. Kyoto is over all extremely beautiful but there were way too many tourists. Annelyse and I went to 3 temples. The golden temple, the silver temple, and keiomeju (sp). All three were pretty but the silver temple was such a let down! It is under construction and neither of our teachers or students bothered to tell us it was under construction, oh well. We walked a lot, I mean a lot...and rode buses. I believe thats what took so long and was so frustrating was waiting for all of the buses and then once on it taking forever to get from point A to B. All in all I am glad we went. We should have called before hand but we thought it would have been fun to dress like geishas but then once we saw that our friends had done it...it was REALLY expensive! We bought the sweet of the region as omiayge for our teachers. Its called yatsuhashi (its yummy). We ran into a few of our friends had a drink and went back to Osaka.





After we got back to Osaka, we went out for a fun little dinner :) It was a bit late but really good. We had kababs, sashimi, etc. Then it was time to go home and go to sleep. We had a huge giggle fest. I could not stop laughing when we got home. I mean it lasted for a really long time, it was fantastic!...and then we were sound asleep.

Monday, we went up to Osaka station and hand lunch and then carried on home around 1:30. I was back in Itako around 6:00, I think. Ha ha. OKay, I've got a terrible headache and its the end of the day at school...I think I will end my blog here! I have more stories but will also upload those later! Hope this has been happy reading and viewing! miss you guys...