Taiwan Independence in China Town

Caroline's birthday falls on the same day as Taiwan's Independence day and she appreciates the fact that China Town puts on a party on her birthday, so we headed up to China Town in Yokohama to catch a bit of the event.

One of the main events we witnessed was the Dragon Dance. We didn't get the story on the process, but from what we could tell, several dragon teams were going around the streets of China Town going into each business in some type of chinese acrobatic dragon blessing before snatching an offering that was hung from the front of the store.

In the store we were next to, it seemed they forgot to hang the offering up and they ended up donating a case of Kirin Beer to the team. It all seemed ritualistic and spiritual... either that or the protection schemes in China Town are pretty fancy...

Tokyo Disney Sea

We are on vacation for the next few weeks. We're spending most of it at home, but we just got back from a 4 day trip to Tokyo staying at the New Sanno Hotel. We'll post a bit more on that later, but the first couple of days were spent at Tokyo Disney Resorts. The first day was Tokyo Disney Land which we've covered before, but the second day, we ventured into Tokyo Disney Sea! It was a bit of a gamble since most of the really good rides in Disney Sea have a 117cm height minimum compared to 102cm in Disneyland. William was definitely more than 102cm and we seemed to recall that his school said he was 119cm, but we weren't sure and we didn't have a tape measure handy at the hotel. Well, we jumped right in and found the first person with a measuring stick and bit our nails as the measuring took place. The answer...

A Green band which signifies the wearer has been measured to be greater than 117cm... Indiana Jones, Raging Spirits looping roller coaster, and Journey to the Center of the Earth, here we come! We were high fiving ourselves all the way to the first ride. Even the measuring lady got a high five from William!

We had trucked it all the way to the "Lost River Delta" at the back of the park to get the good rides while the lines were still short. Indiana Jones was closed for the moment, but the Raging Spirits roller coaster with a 360 loop was right next door and it seemed like the perfect initiation for a newly qualified coaster rider!

Here's a picture of William in front of the loop after his first ride. He loved it and we whipped right around and did it again! We then did Indiana Jones. William was a bit scared from the content (skulls, snakes, spiders, blow darts, and a close call with a big stone ball... not sure what his issue is... ;-) ) and elected not to try it again.

We then headed to Mysterious Island with a pretty convincing volcano. In a crater in the side of the volcano is...

...Captain Nemo's secret base for his explorations into the depths of the Earth and Sea. It is a wonderfully convincing Jules Verne world complete with a Chinese restaurant where we ate lunch.

The 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride didn't take the big Nautilus that was docked in the bottom of the crater, but we had a much more cozy submarine that provided a fairly convincing illusion of diving to the depths, fighting off a giant squid and discovering a deep water intelligent society. Journey to the Center of the Earth was our favorite taking a six person Rocket Rod type vehicle through the various environs of the book including a volcanic vent belching fire and a giant monster before being accelerated to safety out the volcano. William declared it the scariest and the most fun of the rides.

Port Discovery was next with some low impact rides like Aquatopia (in the video) where automated "boats" are navigated about the ride by some method of antennae and sensors. It was kind of fun since the cars didn't all follow the same path. They just kind of turned and twisted in random ways until the ride was done. We also did the Storm Rider, which is a simulator plane ride into the eye of a super storm full of brazen flying techniques and a lot of mishaps. Fun.

We then took the electric train to the "American Waterfront" where there was some pretty convincing representations of old US port towns.

The only things that give it away are the Disney perfectness of it and the odd demographic tilt to the Asian...

Our main goal in this area was the Tower of Terror. By this time, William was wary of the new class of rides he was qualified to ride and had been off and on about doing the Tower. We shamed him into it saying that even 102cm kids could ride this one... though, we did have concerns that he would have nightmares of falling. He ended up loving it. They have a different story line than the one in California and I thought it was actually pulled off a bit better.

It was a beautiful day to have such a new and interesting Disney experience. If you ever have a chance to go, I'd recommend it...

Yokohama Oktoberfest 2009

It seems a little out of place so far from Germany, but Oktoberfest in Japan goes a long ways to bringing a German atmosphere of celebration to life. Thousands of Japanese along with expatriated Germans, Americans, and others come together under and around the tent on the waterfront of Yokohama to drink German beer, eat traditional German food, sing German songs and generally have a great time. The normally conservative Japanese are apparently easily converted into rousing, singing, drinking partiers along with everyone else in the world during Oktoberfest. King Ludwig I sure knows how to throw a party! 199 years and counting...

Hmmm, next year will be the 200th Oktoberfest. Don't want to miss that one! Prost!

Boom Boom Boom

William got to play bass drum in the Seika band for a 'Safety Parade' here in Yokosuka. As you can see, it was pretty heavy to carry. He got a bit upset when the sun was shining off it into his eyes. He did get over it, and carried on. He did really well.
This is under the walk-over at Yokosuka Chuo on blue street. See the blue chunks in the road? It gives a blue hue. The Japanese get confused if you ask about 'Blue Street.' But, it is a landmark for us Americans.
You can see how the refection on his face was hard for him. They were so cute in their little outfits.
Here's a bit of the parade. If you look, you'll see William in the lead group, his friend Jowanzo with the cymbals, and Susanna on the melodian broadcasters.