Golden Week

Excuse me while I take a few days to travel to Okinawa for a little sun, sea and surf. 

Be back in a week. 

I'll be here if you need me...

Sun, Sea, Sand, 

Kate

After School Snack

The weather over here has finally committed to spring. Well kinda. These days, it seems every morning warrants a peak out the front door to see if I'll need my winter jacket and UGGs for my bike ride to school, or sunglasses and sandals. Let me tell you, it's getting really old. Yesterday after school it was as beautiful as ever, so Kim and I decided to take a walk to enjoy the flowers and fresh air. A walk which came about only because I was craving my first ice cream of the year in the clear afternoon sky. 

Priorities. 

Flowers and Ice Cream,
Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: Man found dead on London street 'was probably stow away from plane' ...Guardian

Google Search: Pomegranate in Japanese.

Tune: Best Day of My Life By American Authors. 

Accomplishment: Getting some paperwork organized.
Obsessions: A new ice cream cone I discovered at the store. 

iphone phun

as of late a few of my favorite, random photos...

ice design in my tea-hi.

4am mcdonald's breakfast before the yamathon.

these two.

a mid-yamathon squat as we waited to the light to turn green.

boats under the bridge.

my favorite cafe as of late.

a sun break through after a day of pouring rain.

sakura at the jr. high school around the corner.

a kendo demo during an assembly.

"happy our"
so close.

livin, 

kate

Words

A few awesome words from youtube's sensational Kid President. 

Video here if you haven't seen it.

Blah, Blah, Blah,
Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: Japan shrine visits, isles row stir East Asia tensions...Yahoo!

Google Search: German Schnauzers.

Tune: New Shoes By Paolo Nutini. 

Accomplishment: A nice chat with my kids during cleaning.

Obsessions: Kashi Dark Mocha Almond Bars. 

Yamathon

This past Saturday I completed my greatest physical endurance accomplishment to date. The Tokyo Yamathon. The Yamathon is a charity walk around the Yamanote line, the circular train line that runs around, and around, and around, central Tokyo. 

The goal for this challenge was to walk from station to station, and take a picture in front of every Yamanote station, all 29. We uploaded the pics via instagram so the Yamanote people could monitor our progress. For anyone who is friends with me on instagram, or facebook for that matter, I do apologize for the constant uploading. Though, those 29 pictures really kept our little team going. Half of our conversations were about what pose we were going to do next, and whose turn it was to ask someone to take a picture.

 Our little team of four was made up of Jessica, Kris, Sayaka and me and I must say, as a unit, we did a fabulous job! We covered about 40k (25miles) in 10 hrs 55 minutes, and finished 44th out of 117 teams. We ate on the go, only pausing for bathroom breaks, snacks, and once to tape blisters.

I have attached all 29 pics, and I gotta say, I'd give us an A when it comes to creativity. 

Enjoy!

*All photos and captions by Kris.
**Note the fading smiles throughout the day.

All smiles and genkiness at station 1 of The Yamathon! Harajuku!

Pointers out! Station 2!

Toothless at station 3! Shinjuku!

Starbucks at Shinokubo! Station 4! 

Open wide! Station 5, Takadanobaba! 

Ballet classes in Mejiro! Station 6! 

YMC....M? At station 7, Ikebukuro!
*Let's take a moment and look at this one. Note the two non-American's dropped the ball when it came to the YMCA. Kris claimed that he thought the picture had been taken so he started to put his hands down. And Sayaka? Well...let's just say that, while she's fluent, English wasn't her first language.

Janken* at Otsuka, station 8!
*Rock, paper, scissors; solves every problem imaginable in Japan.

The newly opened zoo at Sugamo, station 9! 

Charlie and his Angels at Komagome, station 10! 

Band practice at Tabata, station 11!

British tea time with UK Kris, at Nishi-Nippori, station 12! 

Japanese customs lesson with the native, Sayaka-san, at Nippori, station 13!

Kate and Jess teach us "The American way", at Uguisudani, station 14!

Old-school sports team photo, Ueno, station 15! (Over half way!!)

P.E class at Okachimachi, station 16!

Amateur acrobatics at Akihabara, station 17! 

Time out at Tokyo, station 19!

Kisses at Kanda, station 18!

Yoga at Yurakucho, station 20!!

Sumo at Shimbashi, station 21!

Gangnam stylin' at Hamamatsucho, station 22! 

Tired at Tamachi, station 23!

Stretching at Shinagawa, station 24

Martial arts training at Osaki, station 25!

頑張ってる (Ganbatteru) in Gotanda, station 26!

Mad at Meguro, station 27!

Eating at Ebisu, station 28! One more left!!

BIG smiles at Shibuya, station 29!!! Final station done! Now back to the starting point!

FINISHED!!!! お疲れ everyone!!! We finished 44 out of 117 with a time of 10 hours and 55 minutes, at 6pm! The goal was under 12 hours! First team finished in 5 hours and 35 minutes and ran the whole way! Good job everyone! Yamathon 2013!

Well done Team Sasuga, and everyone who participated in the Yamathon!

Yamathoned,
Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: Earth Houses Give Pupils Refuge From Heathrow Noise...Guardian.

Google Search: Blood Pressure Chart.

Tune: Best Day of My Life By American Authors. 

Accomplishment: Getting my imovie to work.

Obsessions: Shortbread Lavender cookies. 

Weekend Update

Highlights included...

[1] Finishing the Yamathon! Where we essentially walked around Tokyo all day. 

More on that tomorrow.

[2] My new knock-off Marc Jacobs bag from Hong Kong that I couldn't seem to part with all weekend. 

[3] The potential locations I could be placed for a job application I submitted. 

[1]

 [2]

[3]

Hope you all had a great one as well!

xoxo,
Kate