11 - "Sex and the City"
My first ride for the day was the E.T. attraction. It was very cute seeings all the different E.T.s throughout the display, as the carriage which looked like bikes took us through. At one stage we went through a room which was black apart from stars everywhere and moving silhouettes of bicycles passing across a moon. It was all in Japanese of course, so who knows what E.T. was saying apart from the fact he wanted to phone home! 
Next Lauren and I caught the Monster Rock 'n' Roll show. It was lots of fun to watch. The stage was a scene from a rocky horror show complete with coffins, a big clock, glowing skeletons and the like. There were many characters including Frankenstein, Beetle Juice, Dracula and some rock'n'roll girls who sang and danced throughout the half-hour show. They spoke in Japanese but sang songs in English. They sang and danced to 'Smooth', 'Living La Vida Loca' , 'It's Raining Men' and other songs that got you bopping in your seat. 
We ate lunch in a really groovy rock'n'roll period cafe with classic cars parked out the front and the little juke boxes (purely for show) on each table. I had a cheeseburger set which came with a bucket of 2 chicken nuggets and wedges.
Next was Shrek in 4D. This was really cleverly done. You wore the sexy 3D glasses and the extra 1 dimension made you feel like you were there. We were sneezed on (little sprays of water), felt like spiders were crawling up our legs (air jets from under the seat), riding in a horse drawn cart and flying through the air. Princess Sofia was abducted so Donkey and Shrek had to save her. It was fun.
While everyone else went of the Spiderman ride (a simulated ride which carried a warning sign, not suitable for people who suffer from motion sickness) I wandered around, went through the Land of Oz, ate a Funnel cake with ice-cream and strawberries and enjoyed the atmosphere. Once I met up with the others again, I took my motion sickness tablet and tackled the Jurassic Park Ride. At the entrance there were some vending machine selling ponchos. We all bought one, just in case!! We were taken through the land of dinosaurs via a boat, getting up close and personal with many different dinosaurs and finally with T-Rex before shooting down a very steep and tall slide and skidded through water at the bottom. Half way down the slide, when we were all screaming our lungs out, there was a flash (our picture taken). The picture was hilarious, you can almost see my funnel cake! I had to buy it!! 
We saw a couple of street shows including Sesame Street and Hello Kitty. The song to Hello Kitty was basically the same as Hey Mickey!! They sang bilingual, one verse in Japanese and one in English. Quite amusing! The souvenirs were bizarre as well. They were selling hats which were the heads of E.T and Elmo as well as head bands with Snoopy and Hello Kitty ears. 
It was pretty busy there, especially for a weekday and in comparison to crowds back in Oz. Most rides had a queue time of 40 minutes or longer. It seemed like a long time, but when we looked around to see the potential capacity for the lines we felt a little better! I would hate to be there on a busy day! There were actually information boards scattered throughout the grounds which informed you of the waiting times for the different attractions. The longest time I saw for the day was for the Dream Ride Roller coaster: 140 minutes!! Gotta be keen!
paraded around the ring...there was some weird drumming and polite applause for each wrestler!
What's so special about this? Well, we took the food straight from the pot, dipped it into raw egg and then ate it. Definitely an acquired taste (or mentality about raw eggs), but we both gave it a go, soon preferring to eat the food with our rice. Yet another Japanese meal in our repertoire.
At 12 we all made our way to the library and arranged on three long tables were some exquisite Japanese lunches. For 2800 Yen I got a Bento (lunch box, including lots of sashimi), a bottle of tea (my favourite, not!) and a bag of sweets. I was brave and tried everything in the bento, including the raw white fish. The tempura was delicious and I shelled my first ever prawn. The sweets bag included two cake logs, a teddy biscuit, one green tea cake and one vanilla cake.
So it turns out soccer crowds are pretty much the same everywhere. They sing funny songs (In Japan they are funny because they sing `Love me tender` and `Go West`, not because they are vulgar, insulting or question somebodies sexuality!), they cheer, play the trumpet and bounce up and down when they score... However in Japan people bring their own snacks (rice of course), there is no abuse of referees or opposition players, even when it is justified. For instance, a bloke got sent off for elbowing one of the home teams players and he got clapped from the field.
Imagine what would happen if Kevin Muscat did that in Adelaide (note: that is purely fantasy, we all know Kevin Muscat would never be yellow carded, let alone
This was a delicious savoury dish. The miso paste gave an otherwise plain rice cake some sweet flavour. I was so impressed I made it for tea that night.
The graduation was held in the gymnasium which was decked out with flowers, a red carpet down the centre isle, the school logo on blue and white material was hung around the perimeter of the room and there was seating for about 700 people. Students filed in, down the isle in pairs and stood in front of their seat. Once the whole home group was there, they all bowed to the front and sat down. They sat in home group order (9 classes of 40 students), girls on one side of the isle and boys on the other. To the sides, teachers sat facing inward and on the opposite side sat PTA members and other Principals from neighbouring schools. 
The students sang a song and then each home group teacher called out the names of their students. Each student would respond to their name with "hai" and then stand up. Students who achieved success were awarded certificates. The Principal gave a speech, as did the Deputy and other students (all of which required repeatedly standing up, bowing and sitting down). Students sang the school song, along with a few others and then this brought us to the final part of the ceremony. 
All of the teachers lined up along the front and were presented with a bouquet of flowers by some blubbering girls. Then, one line at a time, the students stood, said thank you to the teachers, bowed and then filed out again. Many students were crying, as well as the teachers. I blame the emotional music! It was a special occasion.
The Aussies and Americans made their way to Aboshi via the train and found our way to the sake winery. Not really knowing what to expect (only knowing of winery tours in Oz), we walked into a room which had two long rows of tables and sake glasses lined up. We soon made ourselves at home as we grabbed some spare chairs and rearranged the seating. After listening to a speech from one of the business men (we could tell because he was dressed to the nines), and watching a video on the production of sake, we donned our white gumboots and hair nets and headed on a tour of the factory.
Unlike Australian grape wine, much of the labour in producing sake is done by hand. It is a lengthy process of harvesting the rice, washing, separating, trimming, mixing, soaking and straining (in no particular order!!). The whole process takes two weeks.
The tour took us into many areas of the factory, the group of 40 riding the industrial sized elevator to the different levels. It was something like a scene from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, although no chocolate and no oompa loompas (and unfortunately for the girls, no Johnny Depp). The highlight of the tour was undoubtedly having to step through a tray of water to wash our white gums boots to ensure they were clean (at least on the outside)! We saw lots of sake in storage tanks, which meant after the tour there was plenty for us to drink.
We were told to bring our own snacks for the tasting part. Our group brought crackers, chocolate, biscuits, cheese, popcorn, etc. Looking around the room we noticed that the Japanese taste testers were having a banquet! They brought out trays and trays of food which they gorged on. We were given 3 different sakes to taste. They all tasted horrible to me (Jodi) but Jono didn't mind them. Some of our companions were very 'happy' by the time we had to leave. The two-hour tour and tasting was FREE!!!
