Day 12 in Japan

Cheryl, Kotoe, Fred and Jessica at the front gate of Tokyo Disneyland.

Here I am, hot and tired, waiting in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride line.

The huge crowd at Tokyo Disneyland at the special 25th anniversary daytime parade.

 

Here's Mickey Mouse during the special 25th anniversary daytime parade.

Kotoe and Rumiko. Can you believe these two are both 52-years-old?

 Jess, Fred and Cheryl in front of Cinderella's Castle

Cinderella's Castle at night. Pretty, isn't it?

SUNDAY, JUNE 1

We've just come back from a two-day trip to the Nikko area. And we're getting up early once again.

This time, we're going to Tokyo Disneyland. My mother wisely decided to stay in Kashiwa and spend the day with her sister.

As usual, Ken-chan and Tsune-chan came to pick us up in the big van. But first, we had to go to Harue to pick up our cousin, Kotoe.

When we got to her house, our Aunt Mizue was waiting for us. She even had food and bottled green tea for us, which we ate and drank on the way to Disneyland. Ken-chan and Tsune-chan left us at the front gate and then they had to go back to Kashiwa to return the van.

On the way, Ken-chan kept telling us that it was going to be crowded. It was Sunday and sunny. And he said a radio host said an estimated 30,000 people would be there. Yikes!

We have good-bye and started on our way to the gate. Oh, and Ken-chan had bought the tickets for us. I told you they took great care of us!

It was Kotoe's birthday. We decided to pool our money and buy something for her at Disneyland. It's her favorite place in the whole world. We bought her a watch and necklace and she was so happy.

A friend of ours, Rumiko, met us there. She and Kotoe have known each other since they were teenagers. Rumiko has visited us in Columbus twice.

But before we could get started, Fred and I wanted to change dollars into yen. We went to customer service and after meeting a Disney representative who spoke English, went to the ATM. It would not accept our debit cards. He took us to the mall adjacent to the park (I think it was owned by Disney). He was funny. He told us it was a 7-minute walk. He was retired from Deutsch Bank, so he also spoke German.

The ATMs there were more compatible with our cards. We got our yen and walked back to the park.

My brother-in-law John tried to give him a tip and handed him a 10,000 yen bill. That's roughly $100. The man refused to take it. Fred laughed at John, saying he never knew how generous he was.

That's one thing about Japan. No one accepts tips. No one. I'm guessing people in Japan are paid well enough that they are not dependent on tips.

We got to Disneyland just after it opened and stayed until it closed. And I think we rode just four rides. Now I've waited in lines at Six Flags Over Georgia, Disney World and Universal-Orlando. And I don't think I've ever waited more than 40 minutes in any line. In Tokyo Disneyland, the average wait was two hours. TWO hours!

That's why we carefully chose the rides and attractions to go to.

For lunch, we ate at one of the big restaurants. We had to circle around, looking for tables first. Then we went to get food a few at a time. And believe it or not, it was delicious.

We walked around, looking at people and taking pictures.

It was the first day we were in Japan that was actually hot. And it was crowded.

We watched several parades, which were different from the ones in Orlando.

As we watched one parade, I went to buy a snack. I found turkey legs. But these were not the huge ones like you can get at the Georgia Renaissance Festival. Fred said it was an abnormally large chicken!

When it got dark, we watched the Electric Parade and the fireworks. We did a little shopping on the way out.

We tried to get some food at the mall, but none of the restaurants were open. So we went to the convenience store, only to find that it had been wiped out by other people who spent the day at the park.

We took the train back to Kashiwa. We said good-bye to Rumiko, who had a two-hour train ride home Kotoe went part way. She said if she didn't take the train home right then, she'd be stranded. So she told us exactly what to do and where to get off.

We got to the Shin-Kashiwa station. We were exhausted and we had a five-minute walk to the house.

To our delight and relief, we found that Kotoe had called Ken-chan and he was waiting for us to drive us home.

I told you our relatives are the best!

Oh, and that 30,000 attendance report? It was wrong. There were 60,000 people there that day!