Ren's Footprints

I guess I will keep things in chronological order and start with my first blog-worthy news. Last week I sent a letter to Major League Baseball's Tokyo office to inquire about work there. This wouldn't be video related work but I am still interested. This office is MLB's agent in Japan to represent the sales of sponsorship rights, and facilitate event operations, broadcast sales and licensing.
I couldn't find any sort of email address so I actually had to write a letter! It had been a long time since I had written a letter. Anyway, they responded to me via email and asked for my resume and gave me information about an apprenticeship program that they are currently recruiting for. I emailed them my resume and got a call to come in the same day for an interview but unfortunately I was out of town and won't be able to go to their office until December 5th but it should be interesting. I still can't tell if it is a Japanese or English speaking environment so I am a little nervous.
The place I was when I was out of town was somewhere where most of you probably wouldn't have expected me to go...Disneyland! Tokyo actually has two Disney parks and the one I went to is Disney Sea. Disney Sea opened in 2001 and is the most expensive theme park ever built in the world. It is estimated to have cost over 4 billion dollars.

Anyway, I had a great time! I really had my doubts, but it was definitely worth my time and fifty dollars. Our crew of 4 was there for 13 whole hours and I believe we experienced every penny of the 4 billion dollars it cost to build this place.
We showed up early and had our tickets around 15 minutes before the gates opened. As we entered the park we realized that it wasn't that crowded at all. I think our first wait for a ride was just a 15 minutes. In fact, the whole day the most we ever waited for anything was 30 minutes and that was our second time riding the most popular ride.

What really made Disney Sea worth my while were the incredible shows. The acting, singing, dancing, and musicians were superb! Not all of them were Disney themed, however the Little Mermaid show was quite a show! The actors were all in incredibly elaborate, unique costumes and were harnessed by robotic arms to a decorated ceiling. This way it was like they were swimming in the sea. Everything about it was worth seeing twice!
Another show we saw was a tribute to big-band music. That featured a full band, tap dancers, acrobatics, acting, go-go, and more. It was brilliant!

Not being a big fan of theme park food I brought lots of snacks into the park. Therefore, I only got one meal there, and it happened to be at a Mexican restaurant. It was my first time to get Mexican food in Japan and I have to admit I really enjoyed it. I paid $9.50 for fajitas.

At night one of the realistic bays in the park is the location of some fantastic shows including incredible displays of lighting, robotics, and pyrotechnics. I will now include Disney Sea in my recommendations of what to do in Japan simply because it is tons of fun and had world class entertainment.
Disney Sea has a peculiar reputation in Japan though and that is that it is for couples. The park doesn't base its attractions or shows on the idea that there are mostly couples there, it had just become somewhat of a cultural thing I guess. If you tell someone that you are going to Disney Sea they immediately ask, "With who?" If a guy can get a girl to go to Disney Sea with him she has given him the seal of approval!
We didn't actually buy any of the ride photos, but we took pictures of them!

Finally, here are some video clips!Tokyo Disney Sea November 2007