Working for the Weekend

Yea, I know. You are probably rolling your eyes, wondering how someone who doesn't work actually keeps track of the days. Honestly, I don't really keep track of days, but Tim does have more time off on the weekends, so we try to do some fun things.

We decided to have a lunch date and use one of the gift certificates we got for our wedding to a restaurant here in Tokyo, Nobu. It was a really nice lunch. Tim ordered tempura and I got the california rolls. Delicious! Then we walked to the Izumi Tower to ride the glass elevator. The really really cool elevator is private, and hangs on the side of the building on the rails in this picture:


The one we road was in a glass box on the other side of the building. Still pretty fun and a good view.




Then the ward had an activity at the local baseball game. Our team is the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They played really great tonight, and won. The fascinating thing about a Japanese baseball game is that the fans are not Americans. There is no whooping, whistling or hollering. When the opposing team is up to bat, you are quiet and give that team time to do their cheers. When your team is up to bat, you do the specific cheers in specific order. For example, the umberella cheer is only done when we score a run. Most of the cheers involve singing.




Oh, and when the mascot comes out to shoot out t-shirts, no one jumps up and down yelling like crazy to win the t-shirt. You stand and wave calmly, hoping that it is you, but if it is someone else, that is perfectly fine. When the camera pans over to your section, you don't jump up and down and wave and go crazy because you see yourself on the big screen. All in all it was a very quiet, demure way to watch baseball. The food was also different. Hotdogs come on a plate, with toothpicks. You can get rice and curry. The vendors carry kegs of beer on their backs and pour them from a tap.

Ice cream has it's own special packaging. It was quite the experience.


Then I taught the three year olds in Primary, and Tim taught Elders Quorum. We got to enjoy dinner with some friends from the ward.

Monday was a holiday, Marine Day. So we went up to Ikebukuro to check out Sunshine City and the view.



We ate a good lunch, Katsu. It is pork that is breaded, with some cabbage, rice, miso soup, and some sauces.


The views were amazing. For me, seeing all these different views just proves how enormous Tokyo really is. This tower, Sunshine 60, is about a half hour subway ride from the Tokyo Tower. You can see the Tokyo Tower as part of the sea of buildings from this building, and it really isn't that far away......