Mommy and Daddy comes to Japan

So my parents decided to take a vacation to Hong Kong and come visit me in Japan along the way (October 13- 16). So I took Friday off work and met them at their hotel in the Ikebukuro area of Tokyo. I haven't seen them for almost 7 months. So it was very very nice to see them again.

And knowing the stress monkey that I am, I was super stressed out in planning their visit here. Basically I had to plan all the sightseeing. I wanted to give them the best visit of Tokyo but considering they only had two full days in the city I had to cram a lot in. And since I haven't done much sightseeing myself in the city, I was kinda learning in the process myself. Thank goodness for my friend James who has lived in the city for almost two years to give me some sightseeing suggestions.

There's a lot of photos of places I dont have cause theyre on my parent's camera. So heres where we went in the four days.

Day 1- October 13th (after meeting them at their hotel)

• Shibuya - Dinner and browsing

• Roppongi Hills (giant skyscraper with a 360 degree view of Tokyo and a contemporary art museum)

Day 2 - October 14th

• Sensoji Temple (Asakusa Kannon Temple)

• Boat Cruise along the river running

• Hama Rikyu Gardens

• Odaiba area (with a stunning view of the Tokyo skyline)
• My Dormitory

• Yokohama Harbour front

Day 3 - October 15th

• Nikko (in a city about 1.5 hours away from Tokyo with gorgeous temples)

• Akihabara Electric Town (with all the Japanese electronics)
• Ginza

• Shinjuku
• Dinner at a traditional rotating sushi bar restaurant in Shinjuku

Day 4 - October 16th

• Tsukiji-Shijo Fish Market
• Yasakuni Shrine (the controversial Japanese soldier shrine)

Most of the trip was taken up by transportation. The tourist attractions are all located at points far away from each other. But that's all part of living in Tokyo: the commuting. So my parents got to experience the different forms of transportation here and the complete madness of pulic transit in the densest city in the world. But one amazing that came out of the commuting was that we got to have a lot of wonderful conversations about what's happening at home and what I have been up to. It was defintely, as my father puts it, a family reunion.

My dad sitting next to old ladies on the JR train

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The Yasakuni Effect
A special part of the trip I would like to talk about is the trip to the infamous Yasakuni Shrine. For those of you who don't know, Yasakuni Shrine is the shrine that commemorates the Japanese war dead (all the wars, not just WWII) and happens to contain a few war criminals from WWII. And this is the controversial shrine that upsets China and South Korea everytime Prime Minister Koizumi visits it. My dad is a very knowledgeable and educated individual and is extremely interested, like myself, in history and politics. So he really enjoyed this part of the trip.
So I want to talk about something that I experienced during our visit to Yasakuni Shrine I call the Yasakuni Effect. Being from Chinese origin, this was the very first time I had felt awkward being in Japan. It started when we first entered the shrine and my mom commented on how she felt slightly uncomfortable being there due to the war crimes against our ancestors. My dad, on the other hand took this visit more as an educational experience and decided to look past the controversial history. Parts of me agreed with both their stances. I unexpectedly felt offended being in the shrine. I never thought I would actually feel this way since I've been living and educated in Canada for most of my life and being the third generation in my family since World War II ended. It was a feeling that hit me by surprise. I studied all this stuff in high school, and I usually just took it as an event in history, and like my dad, looked past the controversy. But I couldn't help but feel angry at what the Japanese did to my ancestors. For the first time I felt sympathetic toward the remarks made by the Chinese and Korean governments. The shrine also contained a really extensive museum that took the visitor throughout the history of the wars that Japan has engaged in. So me and my dad went in and thank goodness the displays contained English. I actually learned A LOT from the museum. And my dad, being Chinese and our family's history (mostly my grandfather) with Japan, my dad finally got to see what "the other side" had to say and how the "other side" interpreted history. I didn't really blame my mom for not wanting to go in cause I completely understood her feelings. But my curiosity and extreme interest in history and politics kind of overpassed my anger and discomfort.
The interesting thing was that the very next day after our visit, on October 17th, Prime Minister Koizumi made a trip to the shrine. And as expected, China and Korea made a lot of noise in international news.

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Overall, I could have organized their vacation better. I was really upset at myself as there were a lot of places I wanted to take them to ended up being closed. They kept telling me that the purpose of their trip was to come visit me. But I was still really disappointed at myself. Considering that they payed so much just to fly here and that it was my dad's first time in Japan, I wanted to give them the best experience possible.

I can't wait to see them, the rest of my family, and my friends again when I return to Canada in late December. Japan has definitely become part of my life, but I miss Canada!!!