Tokyopoly....A Success!

Gomen! (Sorry) I feel that I owe my blog viewers an apology for the lack of posts these past few months. Besides Sam’s recent visit and traveling across Japan in a clown car, my time has been consumed with the Charity Scavenger Hunt….Tokyopoly! It was hosted on June 3 in Tokyo and was a complete SUCCESS!! All the hard work that Michelle, Jamie and I put into the event paid off. Again, the charity that all the proceeds go towards is The PEPY Ride (www.pepyride.org). Here is a brief recap of the day and weekend for all you curious ones!

Hunters preparing for the hunt!

Rise and shine because all 70 hunters showed up at the Sakura Hotel in Jimbochio around 10:00am. Michelle, Jamie, Kate and I were all sporting our Tokyopoly shirts, buzzing on our morning coffee and meeting and greeting with a huge Ohayo (Morning). We had a morning kampai (cheers) with some donated beers and were off to scavenge Tokyo! Now the theme of the event was a spin off of Monopoly and we had game rules, boards, and places to coordinate with the appropriate theme. The board consisted of 4 areas in Tokyo where one of us sat at an establishment waiting for the hunters. The hunters had a fabulous time answering questions, completing challenges, collecting houses, buying hotels, and competing against their rival teams. The hunt ended about 4:30 at a restaurant in Roppongi where we had a set up a buffet for all the hunters. As we tallied the scores, hunters mingled over glasses of beer and plates of food. The winners were announced and prizes given!

Jamie, Megan, Michelle and Kate in their Tokyopoloy t-shirts

That concluded our hunt and everyone was ready for a nap to prepare for the wild night ahead. Our fabulous friend at a huge club in Roppongi generously donated half of the entrance fee for all participants back to The PEPY Ride. Most of the hunters danced the night away to charity at the club which was wonderful!

Fearsome Foursome Reunion

The weekend certainly wasn’t over and by this I forgot to mention that our lost piece of the Fearsome Foursome returned to Japan!!! Yokoso YARA! (Welcome Yara) She had returned for a short visit of 10 days to Japan and this time she brought her new boyfriend to experience life in this fabulous country. They were on their way to China and stopped in to say hello. On Sunday we meet up with them and other friends for lunch and a boat ride up the river to a famous shrine in Tokyo. That evening Michelle and I went out with two Japanese friends for dinner and wonderful conversation. Both of their English levels are excellent therefore, allowed for in depth discussions over international relationships. Japanese people tend not to be extremely opinionated when talking with foreigners or in general. Some of it may have to do with the English ability levels or just that there society is not that opinionated all together. So, to have the chance to sit down and have a two sided conversation about international differences was quite refreshing.

Still in Tokyo!!! Michelle and I both were selected to present at the 1st year JETs recontracting conference in Tokyo. It was certainly an honor however, even more preparation. The nice thing about this was no school, paid trip to Tokyo, and a night stay in a five star hotel. I presented about Elementary School visits which I think made quite entertaining! It was great to feel the weekday atmosphere of Tokyo and was sad to say good-bye on Tuesday afternoon.

Dinner with our new friends!