After doing a bit of research, I discovered my son could go trick-or-treating at the mall that Sunshine Aquarium is located. I normally save trick-or-treating for a one time (on Halloween) event to limit the amount of candy acquired, but Halloween isn't really celebrated by children in Japan. Halloween is a big commercial holiday - with tons of decorations available for sale in stores and even costumes and Halloween merchandise to be purchased. Holidays in general seem to have a big build up with everything decorated, special themed pastries/goodies, and reminders everywhere you look. But when the holiday comes around, it falls flat because the "reason for the season" isn't there. For Halloween, there are parties for adults, but no trick-or-treating or pumpkin patches or corn mazes or haunted houses (well, there are a few haunted houses in theme parks, but that's it). For Christmas, it's even more of a divide. More on that to come.
So, the trick-or-treating activity I found would have to do. My son donned his favorite fairy costume and we headed out to Sunshine City. I paid ¥200 ($1.75) for my son to build a little box to collect candy in. We were then given a map of participating stores where he could trick-or-treat. He was so excited to be able to collect candy in his little monster box. There were 15 stores participating, which gave him enough of a thrill and not too much for me to worry about his candy intake. I feel like I should get major mom points for this! It was hard to find.
Once he was done trick-or-treating, we headed upstairs to Sunshine Aquarium. We really are getting our moneys worth with this annual pass! The aquarium was decorated for Halloween. My son was thrilled to see the sea lions perform using a yoga ball with a pumpkin face on it and silly masks for their tricks. There were other decorations and fun throughout the rest of the aquarium, including Halloween lights being projected onto the jellyfish!
After a couple hours at the aquarium, it was time to head off to my appointment. We hopped onto the train (for the first time in weeks! We've been taking the bus or bike everywhere!) and rode a few stops to the lawyer's office. I had received a notice that my COE (certificate of eligibility) had arrived. I needed to go into the office to sign a few documents and surrender my passport. Anytime you have to surrender your passport, it is a scary thing. You are taught to never, NEVER, let anyone take your passport while you're in a foreign country (or any time, frankly), but you have to when they need to affix a visa in it. I could have done it all via mail, but that just made me too uncomfortable. At any rate, this means that I am just days (possibly up to two weeks) away from obtaining my spouse visa, meaning I can legally stay beyond the three months allowed on a visitor's visa. A spouse visa is good for three years. Getting this visa also means that I can leave the country and come back as much as I want during those three years. Obtaining this will be a big cause for celebration for my family.*
*Please note that we are doing things a bit backwards in regards to my visa due to timing and other constraints. All is on the up and up, but it is just not the "normal" procedure.
Once we finished at the lawyer's office, it was time for pie. There is a pie shop, Pie Holic, that we've passed numerous times in Roppongi, and since we were there I decided today was the day to try it. All the pies were mini pies. There were over 20 flavors to choose from savory to sweet. My son shocked the clerks by telling them he wanted the matcha pie (green tea flavor) while I wanted the strawberry pie. They were both fantastic. The crusts were thick, but flaky, and the fillings silky and full of flavor. It was a great treat to wrap up a sugar-filled day.
No comments:
Post a Comment