A mere 20 days had passed since we said our good byes to Katie and Jonce and we found ourselves hugging Sam, Mary and Louis. Only 20 days to recover, plan another trip, and, of course, do some Christmas shopping. To say that it went by fast is a serious understatement. It flew like a crane in a rice field!
As we drove to the airport, Seth and I commented on how it felt like just yesterday that we were driving that very road to pick up the W&G group. But this crew was special for many reasons: 1. It was Christmas! 2. Louis is one of the BIGGEST fans of Japan I have ever met! Seriously, he has been talking about coming to Japan long before Seth and I even knew that this job existed. We were super excited to catapult him deep into Japanese culture.
As we pulled into the airport, we put on our tourist jackets and got our sign out for these Christmas vacationers. Seth has made a funny mock video about our fake tourist company, the Hosting Enterprise of Rubberneckers Organized by Walkers in Japan (a.k.a HEROW-Japan). I hope you enjoy!
Above is Seth waiting for Sam, Mary and Louis to come through the security gates. Once they landed and had all of their bags, we went to the airport currency exchange. Sam and Mary traded their bundle of US dollars for some good ol' Yen. After that, we loaded up in the rental car and were on our way to Tsukuba.
We did our traditional drive home and ate some Coco's curry, which we have done for every guest now. Once we got home and showed them to their guest room, they plopped down to get some much needed jet-lagged sleep. You see, their trip started with a 3am, three hour drive to Albuquerque before their flight departed. Yikes!
The next morning, true to every one who has visited us, they were up early and ready to go. Following a quick Japanese-ish style breakfast, eggs cooked over easy (True Japanese eat their morning eggs raw) on top of rice, we got dressed and headed to....the tall Buddha, Ushiku Daibutsu! Yes, I know, we have done this with every guest, but it still does not get old with everyone saying "Wow now that's a tall buddha". Well, it truly is. We have also learned that one can see this buddha statue towering over other buildings from our apartments which is a little over 10 miles away.
That evening we decided that we needed to go up to Mt. Tsukuba and view the sunset, Tokyo city lights, and Mt Fuji. There was also supposed to Christmas lights at the top, but this turned out to be essentially untrue! So we raced to the eastern most tip of Mt. Tsukuba. Seth told Louis to literally sprint up the mountain because we thought we were going to miss the sunset. Plus, it was a win-win because he needed to get some energy out. When we reached the top, we gawked at the beauty of scene as the sun sunk below the earth. Below we have a picture of Sam and Seth with Mt. Fuji in the background (which I have learned that once you have hiked that mountain, you have a hole new appreciation for it.)
Below is Mt. Fuji alone, with the beautiful pinks and golds created by the falling sun. It is crazy to think that we had watched the sun rise on that mountain a 100 miles away from where we stood, and were still able to see it's silhouette clearly.
As we drove to the airport, Seth and I commented on how it felt like just yesterday that we were driving that very road to pick up the W&G group. But this crew was special for many reasons: 1. It was Christmas! 2. Louis is one of the BIGGEST fans of Japan I have ever met! Seriously, he has been talking about coming to Japan long before Seth and I even knew that this job existed. We were super excited to catapult him deep into Japanese culture.
As we pulled into the airport, we put on our tourist jackets and got our sign out for these Christmas vacationers. Seth has made a funny mock video about our fake tourist company, the Hosting Enterprise of Rubberneckers Organized by Walkers in Japan (a.k.a HEROW-Japan). I hope you enjoy!
We finally got to the airport on time AND made them a "Welcome to Japan" sign.
Above is Seth waiting for Sam, Mary and Louis to come through the security gates. Once they landed and had all of their bags, we went to the airport currency exchange. Sam and Mary traded their bundle of US dollars for some good ol' Yen. After that, we loaded up in the rental car and were on our way to Tsukuba.
We did our traditional drive home and ate some Coco's curry, which we have done for every guest now. Once we got home and showed them to their guest room, they plopped down to get some much needed jet-lagged sleep. You see, their trip started with a 3am, three hour drive to Albuquerque before their flight departed. Yikes!
The next morning, true to every one who has visited us, they were up early and ready to go. Following a quick Japanese-ish style breakfast, eggs cooked over easy (True Japanese eat their morning eggs raw) on top of rice, we got dressed and headed to....the tall Buddha, Ushiku Daibutsu! Yes, I know, we have done this with every guest, but it still does not get old with everyone saying "Wow now that's a tall buddha". Well, it truly is. We have also learned that one can see this buddha statue towering over other buildings from our apartments which is a little over 10 miles away.
Look at this kid. He's got tricks for days.
The first group shot of the trip. We walked around the buddha for a while, but this day was pretty chilly with some crazy wind so we scurried back home to return the car and eat lunch.
That evening we decided that we needed to go up to Mt. Tsukuba and view the sunset, Tokyo city lights, and Mt Fuji. There was also supposed to Christmas lights at the top, but this turned out to be essentially untrue! So we raced to the eastern most tip of Mt. Tsukuba. Seth told Louis to literally sprint up the mountain because we thought we were going to miss the sunset. Plus, it was a win-win because he needed to get some energy out. When we reached the top, we gawked at the beauty of scene as the sun sunk below the earth. Below we have a picture of Sam and Seth with Mt. Fuji in the background (which I have learned that once you have hiked that mountain, you have a hole new appreciation for it.)
Below is Mt. Fuji alone, with the beautiful pinks and golds created by the falling sun. It is crazy to think that we had watched the sun rise on that mountain a 100 miles away from where we stood, and were still able to see it's silhouette clearly.
After everyone had gotten their time in with the photos, everyone noticed the absence of the Sun's warmth. The cool night air was coming in so we decided it was time to head back to the house. This is where things start to go awry...
We took a different way off of the top than we normally do because it was supposed to have Christmas lights. Well, we found the tramway and saw the tiny tree that they had decorated in Christmas lights, that was it!? I'm pretty sure Louis was taller than that little dinky thing. Anyway, once we got the the end of the tram, we started browsing through a small gift shop. Meanwhile, Seth made a run to find where the bus stop was and when we could catch one back to Tsukuba. 5 minutes later I caught Seth walking back to the group with a look on his face that spelled T-R-O-U-B-L-E!
The bus ride back to Tsukuba station was not for another 1.5 hours...that's 90 minutes...that's 5,400 seconds! OK, I'm being a little dramatic, but it was our first full day of being tour guides and we already messed this one up. It was an emotional roller coaster because we thought we could catch a bus (not for a while); we thought we could get a taxi (none could be seen); and we thought we could eat dinner (restaurant closed). Luckily, our guests were in high spirits and weren't going to let this small hick up ruin the fact that they were in JAPAN. After sharing a small resistance heater with 10 other people in a cold room for 90 minutes, the bus driver opened his doors to us. We gladly entered the bus for our hour-long ride back home.
Once we got back to Tsukuba Center, everyone was starving! We biked to a restaurant that nobody but Seth had been to. Aside from accidentally ordering about $200 of food, then canceling our whole order, we all enjoyed a great meal. Mary, Sam, and Louis tried, and liked sashimi (raw fish sushi). They threw down the second order like a true Japanese family. Seth was truly proud.
"Sake' it to me!"
Overall it was a great day with just one small bump in the road. It was going to be an awesome week!
~Kate
January 29, 2011 at 6:03 AM
That tourist company video is hilarious! You two would make a killing doing that for real with American tourists.
I can only imagine the huddle around the heater at Mt. Tsukuba. Too funny!