We spent two days at Disney Sea, Japan’s unique Disney theme park that’s kind of a cross between Magic Kingdom and Epcot, yet neither of those at the same time. The park was really fun with great food everywhere! Churros here are big (kind of surprising to be honest) as well.. popcorn. The flavors of popcorn we ate were: curry, garlic shrimp, matcha white chocolate, and soy sauce & butter. Interesting flavors and *most* of them were pretty good!

Here was something that took me completely by surprise. The whole park was decorated completely for Christmas! I mean, Thanksgiving hasn’t even happened yet! But it’s not just here; all the stores in Japan are all playing Christmas music and have Christmas trees. Christmas is really really big here.

That was our Disney Sea vacation! We took two days to do it so really took our time and enjoyed it. Next theme park on the list is Universal Studios Japan!

For Leanne’s 33rd birthday I threw her a surprise party!

A journey of a thousand km begins with a single step.. on the Michinoku Shiokaze trail!

This 1000 km trail (over 600 miles!) starts at Hachinohe (about 45 min drive from us). Leanne and I went to the trailhead and walked the whole thing!

Just kidding of course. But we did walk a lot, maybe about 5 miles of it. Six miles if you include Miles the puppy!

Oirase Gorge is a beautiful river valley in Japan replete with waterfalls, nature, and trails. With the leaves changing color, it was the perfect time to see the valley. We are so lucky it’s only an hour drive away; so many people were there from Taiwan, Australia, and other foreign countries to see the site. The gorge itself is about 8 and a half miles long, so we only saw a portion of it. I want to come back each season and see how everything changes.

Every year when the leaves change color, there is a crysanthemum festival at Hirosaki Castle. We went this year! The castle itself was.. small. Not like European castles at all. However, the area around was truly grand. At night, there was a 3D dragon and bird sculpture that was lit up to animate it and make it look like it was moving.

Our local mall has a Pokémon Center Pop Up shop for the one month only. Naturally, it’s the most popular store in the whole mall. Pokémon is big in America, no doubt, but it’s hard to express just how big Pokémon is here.

On our last day in Tokyo we went to TeamLab Planets, an interactive art exhibit that is just really cool. There’s no way to describe it well or capture it on video, so you’ll just have to come see it.

According to their website:

“Together with Others, Immerse your Entire Body, Perceive with your Body, and Become One with the World

teamLab Planets is a museum where you walk through water, and a garden where you become one with the flowers. It comprises 4 large-scale artwork spaces and 2 gardens created by art collective teamLab.

People go barefoot and immerse their entire bodies in the vast artworks together with others. The artworks change under the presence of people, blurring the perception of boundaries between the self and the works. Other people also create change in the artworks, blurring the boundaries between themselves and the works, and creating a continuity between the self, the art, and others.”

Neither of us are big into art but I’ve gotta say this exhibit was actually really cool.

After some last minute Tokyo food, subway confusion, and Pokémon Go playing, it was time to head home to Misawa. When we arrived it was in the 40s to 50s and it has already snowed north of us in nearby Hokkaido prefecture. Time to get out the coats!

Disney! This was the highlight of the trip for sure. We went to Tokyo Disneyland, which is akin to Orlando’s Disney World Magic Kingdom. One major difference was the Beauty and the Beast ride however which is a Japan exclusive. Another big difference is that popcorn is huge here! We tried berry cheesecake and matcha white chocolate but there was also soy sauce flavor, salted, and a couple other flavors. The lines were so long though so we just got to try the two this time and they were both really delicious. Since it was Halloween, they completely redid the Haunted Mansion to a Nightmare Before Christmas theme which was really incredible to see. Also, we got to see the Spooky Boo Parade (equal parts spooky and cute) which only takes place this time of year, as well as the Electrical Parade which I miss in Orlando Disney World since it stopped when I was a kid. Luckily Leanne got to experience this magic from my childhood.