On this post, I mention a wild 日本猿 (Japanese monkey) got into 渋谷駅 (Shibuya Train Station) in Tokyo and escaped the thirty police officers who tried to capture it.
Well, he’s back in the news.
The monkey, that police suspect hitched a ride on a train from the countryside into the city, is becoming a bit of a celebrity.
He has made over a dozen appearances around the city since his debut last month. Every time he’s seen, the police are called to capture him, and he’s eluded capture everytime, so far.
Last week, he was seen sitting outside a fruit shop staring at the bananas. He was scared off by the shop owner, and when the police arrived, he was sitting on a powerline…and he began to pee on the ground.
The monkey hasn’t yet hurt anyone nor has he tried to snatch any belongings, so he’s endeared by the public.
Yesterday, we took the kids to the 東武スーパープール (Tobu Super Pool), which is one of the pool amusement parks in the Tokyo area with a current pool, a wave pool and four water slides.
We woke up early and got ready (and my wife and kids made a picnic lunch) and we took the train up north into 埼玉県 (Saitama Prefecture) where the park is.
The weather forecast on the TV said that there was a chance of rain but we decided to go anyways because the pool will close next week for the season (and we have other plans for next weekend)…and it was good that we went because the weather was perfect.
We arrived there at about 11:00 AM and stayed until 3:30PM. My kids were in the pools and water slides the whole time (my wife and I went in for awhile too), and only got out for lunch.
The lunch that my wife and daughters made was おにぎり (rice balls) with salmon inside, chicken, chips and ビール (beer) (the kids drank Coke®).
The only photos that I took there were of my family (which I don’t put online). I didn’t take any other photos at the pool because I didn’t feel comfortable taking pictures of other people.
Well, I did take this photo of a 蝉 (cicada) that we saw there:
The 東武スーパープール (Tobu Super Pool) is a part of the excellent 東武動物公園 (Tobu Zoo Park).
So, to get into the Super Pool, you need to buy admission tickets to enter the 東武動物公園 (Tobu Zoo Park), which has an 遊園地 (amusement park), a 動物園 (zoo), a わんこビレッジ (dog village), as well as the 東武スーパープール (Tobu Super Pool).
With that ticket, you can visit the zoo, but the dog village (where you can hold and play with different dogs), the amusement park, and the Super Pool cost extra.
We bought the admission tickets at a discount ticket shop last week, so we saved some money on that cost.
We have been to 東武動物公園 (Tobu Zoo Park) a few times before.
You can see a slideshow of our last visit there at this link.
When we left the Super Pool yesterday at 3:30PM, we walked around the zoo and looked at the animals until it closed at 5:30PM.
We were surprised when we were looking at the chimpanzees, they suddenly became quite agitated and started yelling and running around the cage throwing the tires and their water!
Then, at 5:30PM, we headed home for dinner. My wife made excellent 豚キムチ (Pork kimchee (spicy cabbage)).
Here are some videos I took of the animals at the zoo (including the angry chimps):
Today and tomorrow we are taking my oldest daughter to look at a few high schools to help us decide which one she should go to next Spring (she’ll start 高校一年 (10th grade (first year of high school in Japan)) in April).
In December, she’ll begin taking high school entrance exams! (Next year, my 2nd daughter will do the same…then the youngest after that!)
They grow up too fast!
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Yesterday we went to 銀座 (Ginza) and 上野 (Ueno).
Near 銀座 (Ginza), I saw this 新幹線 (Bullet train) pass by (it was going past a train station, so it wasn’t moving so fast at the time):
And at 上野 (Ueno), we went to a junk-food store that sold ラムネ (Ramune), which is a popular (especially in the summer) carbonated drink in Japan.
It has a distinctive bottle with a marble in the neck.
It usually has a lemon flavor…but this store had many odd flavors and there was a sign that said 「まずいラムネランキング」 (“Top Ten WorstRamune Flavors”)!
Some of the まずいラムネ (Worst Ramune Flavors) included
“Wasabi Ramune“, “Curry Ramune“, and “Takoyaki Ramune“…but the “#1 Worst Flavor” was 「キムチ・ラムネ」 (“Kimchee Ramune”)!
So I had to buy it!
I’ve haven’t tried it yet. I’ll let you know how it is.
(Actually, I really like 「キムチ」 (Kimchee)…(spicy, Korean cabbage). So I’m wondering how this drink tastes.)
From there, we went to a カラオケボックス (“Karaoke Box”), which is a private room for singing Karaoke (you can also order food and drinks from a menu and they’re brought up to the room you’re in).
I’m a terrible singer…but my kids enjoy it.
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In the news,
A wild monkey got into busy 渋谷駅 (Shibuya Train Station) in Tokyo. Over thirty police officers attempted to capture it, but the monkey managed to flee the train station.There are wild 日本猿 (Japanese monkeys) in the countryside but in the city they’re usually only seen in the zoos.
The American Navy’s nuclear aircraft carrier, U.S.S George Washington, will be stationed in 神奈川県横須賀市 (Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture) soon. There are a number of Japanese people who are against the ship coming here, mainly because it’ll be the first nuclear-powered ship to be stationed in Japan.The fact that there was a fire onboard the carrier last Spring compounded their worries.
(You can read my earlier post about the USS George Washington coming to Japan).
And now, it’s been reported, two sailors from the ship have been arrested last weekend in California, USA for murder!
Tokyo Five 
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