Mrs. Ranney-Poole

Mrs. Ranney-Poole
Clark County School District

United States
mrsranneypoole@yahoo.com, jvranney@interact.ccsd.net

Japan

I am so fortunate to have been selected to travel to Japan through a Fulbright Scholarship. I will be detailing my trip with blog entries. Please click on the following link to view my JFMF blog:

http://jfmf08.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?user=3dlelg14paft2

General Consul's House and our lovely reception.

Video of reception:

http://mrsranneypoole.com/japandayone020.mpg

http://mrsranneypoole.com/japandayone12.jpg

View of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Consul's house.

My plane to Japan.

Driving over the Rainbow Bridge into Tokyo.

Watch video of the bus ride into Tokyo:

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=f86c2a545c990bbfefcf

Check out my cool toilet in my room, I have no idea how to use it!

The National Diet building, we weren't allowed to take photos inside.

Akusaka shrine. Click the following link to view video of the shrine:

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=56e5aeeaee2f9e259574

My lovely Tokyo tour guide.

Traditional Kyogen theatre.

Watch video of Kyogen:

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=995595009010b57815e2

This is me sweating on the subway with a million people crammed in to this small space!

Here we are at the Lions baseball game, what an experience!

Watch video of the game:

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=de5eaa3256c2c0bbea3b

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=46fa8434652f77a51e3e

Unfortunately Mt. Fuji was very shy this day, we never did get a clear view.

Watch video of the drive up to Mt. Fuji:

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=2c4020d97b572456709b

We took a river cruise at the base of Mt. Fuji, can you see the pirate ship in the background?

View video of the lake cruise:

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=c3b7a961802108fb9529

View from the top, we were really high up!

Watch video of the tram ride and the view:

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=870cc256a7da3ede7b9e

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0421562ed64634e9fe39

This is an ancient Samurai garden that the New Otani hotel has preserved and built the hotel around.

My wildest dream has come true: to visit Tokyo Disneyland!

The Italian Lagoon at Tokyo Disneyland.

Check out this Pachinko parlor in Tokyo!

Leaving the big city to head out to the countryside.

Upon my return to Tokyo, I headed straight to the Harujuku area of town to try these yummy crepes!

You have to be really quick when crossing the streets here in Japan, unfortunately, our friend Tara didn't make the light!

This is the Tokyo Tower during the day, it took us forever to find this place!

Watch video from the top of Tokyo tower:

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=bcfabf312c449d0b3114

We found this totally awesome restaurant quite by accident because we were wandering around Akasaka aimlessly trying to find dinner and stumbled upon this little gem.

Here is poor Daniel that we dressed up as a kokeshi doll for our prefecture presentations on our last day in Tokyo.

During one of our walks between meetings, we happened upon this beautiful wedding couple in the gardens.

We searched for hours and hours for the busiest intersection in Tokyo in the Ginza district and finally found it! We crossed the street a couple of times, that is really all there is to do at night.

Watch video of Ginza:

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=b79f1a6655aa165d0f50

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=7729d613c70bb698d394

We weren't quite sure what this sign means, we found it by a construction site.

My beautiful room at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in San Francisco.

Me in my fluffy new bed for the night!

Welcome reception at the Sheraton.

General Consul's home.

Video of our plane trip.

Me on the bus to the hotel in Japan.

Yen we received for our dinner.

My beautiful room at the Grand Prince Hotel Akasuka in Tokyo.

Ichiro Kawato, a wonderful former Fulbright scholar who took us to our first diiner in Japan.

Watch video of the musical demonstration on our first night:

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=eabafcc4886baef849ee

Yummy Tempura lunch.

Yeah! SHOPPING!!!!

I received good luck at the shrine, you shake a metal tin, pour out a stick, and match your stick with the drawer, then pull out your fortune.

I had to find my Starbucks! I can't live without it!

This is a giant hanging paper lantern!

Somtimes they are a little confused about their signs, this one is supposed to say salad bar.

I didn't try the chow mein with fungus!

Look closely at his shirt, he teaches at Ranney Elementary!!!!!

My jellyfish lunch, I just ate the rice.

Sending a postcard from the 5th station of Mt. Fuji.

Gondola ride up the second largest mountain in Japan.

Mt. Fuji tour group.

This is a Pachenko Parlor, which are all over Japan. Technically, gambling is illegal, but they collect the little silver balls that you win from the machines and trade them in for prizes and money outside the parlor.

Kabuki theatre demonstration.

Watch video of Japanese theatre:

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ed1639bc4b3de1b879a7

Subway to Tokyo Disney.

Watch video of walking off the subway into Tokyo Disney:

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=368e0b727cec0f8a2ccf

The main entrance to Tokyo Disney.

Watch video of the entrance:

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=4dfeff6c260e3880bd8e

The American port at Disney Sea.

Japanese math education seminar.

Shinto shrine next to the Grand Prince Hotel in Tokyo.

My box lunch on the Bullet Train.

This is a parking garage in Tokyo, you pull your car onto the turn table and it turns your car to the other direction to drive into the parking lot.

Here I am with Tara and Bonnie eating our yummy crepes!

We happened upon this Christian rock band performing on the streets in a rain storm. The girl on the right is translating the song into Japanese, really cool!

This is the view from the top of the Tokyo Tower.

I just thought the outfits of the Tokyo Tower workers was too cute to pass up a picture!

Tokyo Tower at night.

Not only did you get to cook your own food on an indoor hibachi grill, you also got unlimited bowls of cabbage, yummm! Who needs chips and salsa when you can have cabbage!

This was also a really yummy thing I ate. It is kind of like a pancake with vegetables and chicken, very yummy!