Monday, October 31, 2011

(2011.10.22) Japan Golf Tour: 2011 Bridgestone Open

Happy Halloween!!!

I can't believe it's already the end of October. I've been all over the place, so much that I've "saved" up loads of things I want to post, but haven't had the time to actually post them!

Anyway, I wanted to take a break from the posts about my parents' visit to post about the 2011 Bridgestone Open, which I went to see last week! The Bridgestone Open, held every year at the Sodegaura Country Club in southern Chiba City, is a pro tournament on the Japan Golf Tour.

I don't have very many photos because photography was forbidden during play, but I'll share what I've got!

Tournament pamphlet, tee times, and official hat you get for free if you take the shuttle bus from JR Kamatori Station!

This was my first time ever going to see a professional golf tournament! I'm not a huge golfer or anything, but I used to play just a little in high school...I started playing again after some friends in Kamogawa found out that I had experience, and invited me to play with them. So for about a year now, we go to the driving range and play on the course together every once in awhile.

Some of the members of our merry group decided that they really wanted to see Japanese golf sensation Ryo Ishikawa (aka ハニカミ王子/Hanikami Oji "bashful prince"...does anyone else remember all that fuss about him?) play live. Then, we found out that he would very likely be joining this tournament, which was going to be held super close by! How could we pass this chance up??

On a slightly random note, it was neat to find out that Chiba Prefecture apparently has the 2nd most golf courses in Japan - only coming second to Hokkaido.

Sponsor booth area.

Perhaps because of the intense rain that morning (so bad that it stopped the trains for a couple hours and I had to get my friends to pick me up!), there wasn't so much of a horrible crowd. There was still what we called the "Ishikawa Army"...a horde of people trailing around Ryo Ishikawa around the entire time. We were able to see him super close up a few times because we would wait 2-3 holes ahead of him until he came around.


Article about the tournament results:
http://www.iseekgolf.com/news/42033-taniguchi-too-good-at-bridgestone-open


It was super awesome to see the pros go at it! If only I had 1/20 of their ability...

Plus, I'd never heard of anyone but Ryo Ishikawa (and also the Miyazato brothers, but only because their sister, Ai Miyazato, is so famous), so I was able to remember a few players. I think I may have to be a fan of Sushi Ishigaki, because 1) his name is "Sushi" (obviously not his real name, but he does play under this name...it was on the score boards and everything; 2) apparently he always wears flashy knickerbockers; 3) overall he seems like a really cool, chill guy!

And last but not least, group photos are an absolute must for our jolly golfing group:

Take 1.
Take 2! I really enjoy how Tomoya Nagase looks like he is saying something to us in the background...

Monday, October 24, 2011

One Week in Chiba: Part 4 ~Tokyo Disneyland Halloween 2011~


On the next leg of our trip, my mother and I went on a playdate to Tokyo Disneyland! I've been wanting to go to the Halloween event for ages, and since my dad (who is not such a big fan of theme parks) was off playing golf, this was a perfect chance for my mom and I to go.

Halloween decorations in front of Cinderella's Castle!
The forecast called for rain that day so I was a little uneasy about how much we would actually be able to enjoy the park, but it cleared up pretty early on and turned out to be a gorgeous day!


 The entire park is decked out in Halloween decorations, so it's a lot of fun enjoying them as you wander around. The highlight for me is by far the Haunted Mansion, which is given a total Nightmare Before Christmas makeover at this time of the year. Do we have that at Disney World/Disneyland in the States too???

Zombie dancers?!
Another thing that I'm pretty sure we don't have (or at least nowhere near the same scale) at the Disney parks back home are the parades

Some random shots from the Halloween parade:

I always love the dancers' costumes :D I would SO want to wear this outfit!
Two-faced lady sitting on the inside of one of the floats.
Vampires? They are super cute~.
One of the dancers interacting with a member of the audience.

In between parades, rides, and walking all over the places, we replenished our energy with snacks. No trip to Tokyo Disneyland is complete without this:

Soy sauce & butter popcorn! Pure genius.
In typical Japanese fashion, there was also a bunch of different "limited time" foods available just the Halloween event. This is the pumpkin soft serve!



Soon the evening rolled around, and it was almost time for the Electrical Parade! 

I think? I heard someone say that they hadn't been doing this parade for awhile because of setsuden (conserving electricity) stuff. When I last came in the summer, they had a much shorter and simpler version only for rainy days, so I wasn't sure how much to expect...but I was very very pleasantly surprised!


And here's a bunch of photos from the parade:

Goofy is hiding around the center of the photo, and Minnie is standing right next to the giant drum!
Toy Story float!
Alice and the Cheshire Cat.
Monsters, Inc. float.
Genie! Someone around me was constantly talking about how this flight has been repaired/given a makeover. You can't tell in this photo, but Genie can change colors, etc. - like he changes into an aloha shirt!
Many of the princesses were present too! A little blurry, but this is Cinderella's float.
And once again, you can't forget the dancers! ...and I just wanted to post this photo, which I think turned out really cool with the moving lights.

Anyway, the Halloween event will be held until October 31, so there's only about a week left...but if you have the chance, please go! It's so much fun!!! There's also the annual Christmas event that will start in November and run until the end of the year.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

One Week in Chiba: Part 3 ~life in the countryside~

Still continuing with my parents' first full day here in Chiba:

After spending some time to enjoy the lovely view from the Kamogawa Grand Tower, we headed back out for second half of our sightseeing in Kamogawa - this time, to enjoy the mountain culture!

First stop: Oyama Senmaida, one of my favoritest places ever!

After the rice has been harvested already, but it's still gorgeous!
The spider lilies were in bloom too!
We also went to a nearby favorite of mine, Minnami no Sato. It's a rest area with a farmer's market, fields/green houses where you can pick vegetables and fruits of the season, a souvenir shop, workshops, as well as a cafeteria serving food made only from locally made ingredients! I love dropping by the cafeteria to see what kind of soft serve ice cream they have, as they always have some sort of limited time flavor.

This time, it was ichijiku, or fig flavored.
Parents enjoying the soft serve.
How to make your very own tai-senbei!
After Minnami, we still had a little time before our next engagement, so I took my parents to make tai-senbei, or sea bream crackers. These are pretty popular souvenirs from Kamogawa - they were originally created for people to eat instead of the sea breams from the Tai-no-Ura, which I mentioned in a previous post.


1) So first, begin by filling the special plate with the batter. It's advisable to pour the batter in one small spoon at a time, and then tilt the plate around to fill it in evenly.

Everyone is real serious about making perfect crackers.

2) Next, you top your crackers with the topping you choose. They have poppy seeds, black and white sesame seeds, and pepper. Then, hand your plate in so they can be baked for about 10 minutes.


3) Next it's a race against time! You need to pick the crackers out of the plate (while taking care not to burn yourself - it's really hot!). This is important because if you take too long, the crackers will harden and you won't be able to get it to bend in so that they look more "realistic."


4) And...the final product! You can eat them there, or take them home. So cute!!!!!

Rosso Bianco!!!
Then, finally it was time for dinner - and another local favorite/my FAVORITE restaurant in the entire world. I joke not. The food is simply AMAZING...I have taken a ton of other people and so far everyone has only agreed with me.

And for your enjoyment, pictures of some of the delicious food here!

Kicchan's favorite - 牛肉のカルパチョ!
Hamburger steak (is that what you call them in English?) with eggplant.
Herb sauce spaghetti!

Day 2...

I am putting this in the same post because I actually only have the following couple of pictures from Day 2. We stayed in our hotel until close to check-out time so we could enjoy the view, and then we visited Kamogawa City Hall before driving along the Tokyo Bay coast up to Chiba City (unfortunately it was pouring buckets all day, so it wasn't nearly as pretty as I was hoping it would be, but still lots of fun nonetheless!

And here are the photos from City Hall:

In my old office, with some of my former coworkers!
And two of my bestest lady friends from Kamogawa! How I miss them~.

Next stop: Tokyo Disneyland's Halloween!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

One Week in Chiba: Part 2 ~Living Sky-High~

(Let's ignore that they spelled my name wrong...*sigh*)
After lunch at Ryokusuitei, we checked in at our hotel, the Kamogawa Grand Tower! I mentioned this place very briefly in a previous post, when I stayed in one of their standard (but still gigantic and gorgeous) standard condominiums, but this time I stayed in a royal suite!!!!!

If you were to pick Kamogawa's three most luxurious hotels, it would be the Ryokusuitei, the Kamogawakan, and the Kamogawa Grand Hotel/Tower. Each of these places cost an average of 100,000 yen per night (for their suites - the Kamogawakan and Grand Hotel/Tower have more standard rooms, which are still fairly pricey).

Of course, staying in such places is not really possible on my salary...but an acquaintance of mine was extremely generous enough to give me a coupon reducing the room rate to 31,500 yen for a night! 

 
There are only four royal suites in the the Kamogawa Grand Tower! All of them look totally gorgeous, but I chose "White Breeze" because it was supposed to be the one with the best view - and  despite the cloudy weather, the view really was absolutely amazing!

Really excited to check out the room!
Hello Grand Tower!
Can't even fit it all into a single photo...:D
The Grand Tower stands 33 floors high, and is the tallest building in Kamogawa - the next tallest being Kameda Medical Center's K Tower, which I believe is only 15 floors tall. It's pretty impressive standing at the base...and just as epic from the top!

The 32nd floor is the highest floor for rooms (the 33rd floor is the hotel bar), and is dedicated solely to the Royal Suites.
First, you have to slide your card to get into the lobby for the suites. I felt super VIP already, and we hadn't even gone into our room yet!

Garden on the 32nd floor!
And now...I present photos of our suite! It has a giant living room, two bed rooms, a mini-kitchen, and three bathrooms, plus a huge entryway.

Entryway. This is already enough space for a standard business hotel room.
This is the main bedroom, where I got to sleep. Totally random, but you can open/close the curtains with a button on the night stand!
Changing area connecting the bed and bath. There were so many towels...There were tons of towels in all of the bathrooms too, even though there were only 3 of us staying 1 night. It made me feel wasteful even though I didn't use them.
I also monopolize this whole bathroom! I couldn't fit it all in one photo, but there's another sink, marble shower, and toilet on the other side of this room.
The view from my bedroom! Downtown Kamogawa - and the tall gray-ish building to the right is Kamogawa City Hall.
The living room area looks out over the Pacific Ocean~!
Dining area to the back right, and one of the bedrooms to the left.
The view from the left side of the living room area.
My parents' bedroom for the night. I love how open it is~.
A peek into one of the other bathrooms. This one also has a toilet and full bath.

And last but most certainly not least, the view from the second bedroom! It's no wonder why my parents chose to sleep here instead of in the main bedroom.


After visiting one of Kamogawa's seaside areas in the morning, and enjoying a view of Kamogawa from our room in the afternoon, we headed out to Kamogawa's Nagasa district, a mountain/farming area, in the evening!

Next post: experiencing Kamogawa's mountainside culture.