Merry Christmas! Celebrating Christmas this year has been a little different for the Seversons here in Tokyo, mainly because Christmas is just like any other day to the Japanese. Our family was still able to gather together and celebrate the birth of our Savior.
I've missed a day of blogging, so I'll catch you up on that before describing our Christmas day.
Yesterday we began with a Google Hangout with Michael and Jenny and Eric and Claire. Sadly, we missed Tyler and Meagan, but when you get the chance to go out without the kids, you've gotta take it! After our chat we went out to the city, specifically to Shibuya and Roppongi. We rode the subway out to see Hachiko. Hachiko is a statue of a dog, based off of an actual dog remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his owner, even many years after his owner's death. There's a movie on it and everything. Feel free to read more about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HachikÅ
Hachiko is right next to Shibuya Crossing, which is the busiest pedestrian crosswalk in the world. Obviously we had to walk through it! We weren't there during the busiest time of day, but there were still a lot of people there. Check out the video below and see if you can find us! I apologize that the quality is pretty poor.
After walking around Shibuya for a while, we decided to make our way to Roppongi, which is considered a rich area of Tokyo, and also as an active night club scene. There we got sushi that came around on a conveyor belt, which was soooo good! We tried lots of varieties of sushi, all which were delicious :)
I should also mention that in Roppongi there is this really scary looking spider statue.
Sushi filled us up pretty well for the day, so by the time dinner came around we were all just feeling like a little snacking. Christmas Eve dinner ended up being crackers with meat and cheese, but it seemed to be the perfect Christmas Eve dinner as we sat together and watched It's a Wonderful Life.
As for our Christmas day, we opened up a couple of presents and got lots of Japanese goodies in the stockings.
Mom and I walked up to a market about a 5 minutes from the apartment to grab a few items for tonight's dinner. It was strange to do shopping when all of the labels are in a different language, but Mom seems to kind of have an idea of what she needs and what things are, so I just followed her around. After we got back the family walked to Tokyo Tower, which is about 20 minutes away. We walked through Shibakoen on our way there, and some of the trees still had color on them.
We didn't go up in Tokyo Tower, since apparently it give you about the same view that my parents have in their apartment, but walking around it was enjoyable enough. Here are some great pictures of Dad with the mascot of the Tokyo Tower
Afterwards the parental units trusted Caitlin and I enough to go explore Tokyo by ourselves for a little bit. Thankfully we didn't get lost, but Mom and Dad's apartment building is really easy to see around the city, so it wasn't very hard to find our way back.
Now we've had a very yummy roast beef and mashed potato dinner, talked with Grandma and Grandpa who are serving their mission in Russia, and are watching A Christmas Story. Meanwhile everyone back home is just about to start their Christmas day! May it be merry and bright!
Merry Christmas from (part of) the Seversons!
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