I was really looking forward to this day, mainly because I didnt get to go to Kamikochi park in the Japan Alps to see the Monkeys. While travelling to Kyoto on the highway bus I read about the monkey park in Arashiyama and it was a DEFINATE that we were going to go.
So we catch the train, which takes about an hour, and are soon in beautiful little Arashiyama walking through crowded little roads lined with cafes and shops, follow the map across a bridge and straight to the monkey park.
To get to the Monkey viewing area you have to walk up a steep concrete path up the side of a small mountain (its well worth it). All the way up there are signs about how to behave in front of the Monkeys: Do not show the Monkeys any food; Do not stare at the Monkeys in the eye; etc.
About half way up we start to see monkeys in the trees lazing about and a few just sat at the side of the path watching us pass, they are all so close and totally not bothered by us!
We soon find out why. FOOD.
People come from far and wide to see these mokeys but also to FEED them. There is a constant stream of people all wanting to feed the monkeys.
To feed them everyone gets inside this large hut with chicken wire in the windows. The monkeys put thier arms through the wire and people put food in the monkeys hands, and some of them are getting FAT. All quite wierd. But it soon gets alot weirder.
A load speaker sounds telling everyone (including the Monkeys) that it is feeding time, appaently everything alse is a mid feed snack!
Then, after everyone files outside among the monkeys the load speakers start up again but this time with this wierd cancan music and this guy walks about throwing seeds down which the monkeys go crazy over. The music ends, the man goes away and everyone walks about talking pictures while the monkeys finish off thier food. Odd, Odd, Odd.
We walk around for a while taking pictures of bloated, sleeping monkeys and eventually decide weve had enough and head back into town.
At least Ive finally got to see some monkeys.
We head into a beautiful walk through a bamboo grove (which looks pretty damn like the ones in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon just not as big) then we have a walk around the gardens of Tenryuji temple.
Tenryuji is one of the many World Heritage sites in Japan and is as beautiful as many other temples in Japan. I will add pictures later.
Back in Kyoto we go for a walk, heading to the Gion district to try and spot some Geisha. No Geisha tonight but we do bump into Paul from the Zenkoji. If he hadnt jumped out right in front of me I would have walked straight past him (I was too busy looking for Giesha to be taking notice of what was in front of me, at least thats my excuse!).
We all decide to go for a meal to celebrate our serendipitious reunion. It was delicious.
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Early morning, Lazy day
We get up at about 7.30 for the 8 oclock kicking out and clear our stuff away before heading to tourist information to get them to book us a place to stay for the next few nights. Why do it yourself if someone else is quicker and better at it than you?!
They have us a place in no time a bit out of the way in the north of Kyoto. The Aoi-so Inn
We get there in the early afternoon and get checked in the guy who runs the place is a nice little old Japanese man. I find out later that it does good to be small in this place, I bang my head on door frames about three times a day.
He tells us a bit about the area and some of the stuff that is going on whike we are there and a couple of the things we went to so thanks that man! (cant remember his name! :P)
This place is BUDGET though! Its cheap but you have to pay for everything else. Internet: 100yen for 10 Minutes; Cooking Gas 50yen for 20 minutes; Air con in the room: 100yen for a couple of hours; Hot water in the shower: 100yen for 15 minutes.
Bummer.
We head out and go to the Kyoto International Manga Museum, I like manga, did you get that? The museum is based inside this old school building and in parts of it you can really tell it used to be a school; wide corridoors and doors, big class rooms still with the chalk boards, in some rooms they have displays showing pictures and textbooks from the original school bus for the most part the corridoors and rooms are now lined with manga books. Thousands of them. And on seats that are dotted about randomly there are people reading them, lots of them. Some people are just sat on the floor reading, some are lying down, some have coffee or tea, but everyone is here to read manga. I am also here to see the manga but I cant read it because ITS ALL IN JAPANESE! gutted. Still cool to see all those manga lining the walls though. As far as the museum part goes, there is not much to tell, a couple of rooms explain the french roots of comic art passing to Japan and changing to a very quick turn out of cheaply, quickly made comics for entertainment but thats about it.
We leave here and take a stroll around the Kyoto Imperial Gardens.
In the middle is a huge wall that encloses the Imperial Palace which you need special permission to go inside. Around this wall a few dozen school kids are running laps, they can go a hell of a lot further than I could!
We have a look around the park for a while then go back to the Aoi-so.
They have us a place in no time a bit out of the way in the north of Kyoto. The Aoi-so Inn
We get there in the early afternoon and get checked in the guy who runs the place is a nice little old Japanese man. I find out later that it does good to be small in this place, I bang my head on door frames about three times a day.
He tells us a bit about the area and some of the stuff that is going on whike we are there and a couple of the things we went to so thanks that man! (cant remember his name! :P)
This place is BUDGET though! Its cheap but you have to pay for everything else. Internet: 100yen for 10 Minutes; Cooking Gas 50yen for 20 minutes; Air con in the room: 100yen for a couple of hours; Hot water in the shower: 100yen for 15 minutes.
Bummer.
We head out and go to the Kyoto International Manga Museum, I like manga, did you get that? The museum is based inside this old school building and in parts of it you can really tell it used to be a school; wide corridoors and doors, big class rooms still with the chalk boards, in some rooms they have displays showing pictures and textbooks from the original school bus for the most part the corridoors and rooms are now lined with manga books. Thousands of them. And on seats that are dotted about randomly there are people reading them, lots of them. Some people are just sat on the floor reading, some are lying down, some have coffee or tea, but everyone is here to read manga. I am also here to see the manga but I cant read it because ITS ALL IN JAPANESE! gutted. Still cool to see all those manga lining the walls though. As far as the museum part goes, there is not much to tell, a couple of rooms explain the french roots of comic art passing to Japan and changing to a very quick turn out of cheaply, quickly made comics for entertainment but thats about it.
We leave here and take a stroll around the Kyoto Imperial Gardens.
In the middle is a huge wall that encloses the Imperial Palace which you need special permission to go inside. Around this wall a few dozen school kids are running laps, they can go a hell of a lot further than I could!
We have a look around the park for a while then go back to the Aoi-so.
Playing Pirate in a barrel, Hard Gay Man Impersionations and Singing the theme to Naruto in Kyoto. Japan is GREAT!
We wake up early because of kick out time so we have loads of time before the bus arrives to take us to Kyoto.
We have nowhere to stow our bags so we have to carry them everywhere so we take our time walking around the town stopping at pretty much every shop to look at all the touristy souvineers as an excuse to put down our bags.
After a little while we grab lunch in this little Soba/Udon bar restaurant (one of the little ones with a few chairs around the cooking area, Very Japanese). I have some cold Soba noodles (I love those things!) and Lauren has some Tsukimi noodles, which I make a hash up of reading the Kanji on the first try but with a bit of help we get there.
After lunch we have a couple of hours so we find this little hot spring foot bath thing and just sit there chatting and smiling at the other people as they come to use the pool and leave.
Lauren spots that one of the old ladies at the foot spa is wearing a jacket that says "Je suis le king of pop"! COOL!
The bus to Kyoto only takes 4 hours but the day is getting on so we head to the hostel that I tried getting reservations in by email. Somtimes I hate email. They had no idea who we were and we soon find out that everywhere is booked for...
We have nowhere to stow our bags so we have to carry them everywhere so we take our time walking around the town stopping at pretty much every shop to look at all the touristy souvineers as an excuse to put down our bags.
After a little while we grab lunch in this little Soba/Udon bar restaurant (one of the little ones with a few chairs around the cooking area, Very Japanese). I have some cold Soba noodles (I love those things!) and Lauren has some Tsukimi noodles, which I make a hash up of reading the Kanji on the first try but with a bit of help we get there.
After lunch we have a couple of hours so we find this little hot spring foot bath thing and just sit there chatting and smiling at the other people as they come to use the pool and leave.
Lauren spots that one of the old ladies at the foot spa is wearing a jacket that says "Je suis le king of pop"! COOL!
The bus to Kyoto only takes 4 hours but the day is getting on so we head to the hostel that I tried getting reservations in by email. Somtimes I hate email. They had no idea who we were and we soon find out that everywhere is booked for...
GOLDEN WEEK!
If you dont know about GOLDEN WEEK then be warned! Everyone Goes On Holiday At The Same Time! for one week. Whats with that?!
Everyone pours out of the big cities to the country side or the historical towns/cities leaving thousands of empty homes, Thousands of booked up hostels and lots of waiting time on the motorway(the GOLDEN WEEK traffic jamswere on the news)!
So there is nowhere to go right now, except that the guy running this place has another hostel around the corner where we can sleep in the common room after it shuts! Bless him and Bless Futons!
We have to wait untill it shuts at 11 and we have to be up and out before it opens at 8 but awsome.
We stay up and have a chat with some of the other people staying at the hostel and before long the guy on the front desk at this place (Tour Club Hostel, its not a tour club its just called that) comes in and says "Its a full house night, everybody gets free sake!" WOOP! FREE SAKE! Bless Nick (Thats his name)
He comes in to drink with us and we start playing a game of Pirate in the barrel, the one where you stick little plastic knives in the barrel and if you hit the wrong hole the pirate pops up. Pirate pops, take a shot.
Nick does a couple of impressions of a Japanese comedy character "Hard Gay Man", hes pretty good at it! and we sing a bit of the ending theme to Naruto Shippuden.
Everyone goes to bed Sake Happy.
BACHIKOI!
If you dont know about GOLDEN WEEK then be warned! Everyone Goes On Holiday At The Same Time! for one week. Whats with that?!
Everyone pours out of the big cities to the country side or the historical towns/cities leaving thousands of empty homes, Thousands of booked up hostels and lots of waiting time on the motorway(the GOLDEN WEEK traffic jamswere on the news)!
So there is nowhere to go right now, except that the guy running this place has another hostel around the corner where we can sleep in the common room after it shuts! Bless him and Bless Futons!
We have to wait untill it shuts at 11 and we have to be up and out before it opens at 8 but awsome.
We stay up and have a chat with some of the other people staying at the hostel and before long the guy on the front desk at this place (Tour Club Hostel, its not a tour club its just called that) comes in and says "Its a full house night, everybody gets free sake!" WOOP! FREE SAKE! Bless Nick (Thats his name)
He comes in to drink with us and we start playing a game of Pirate in the barrel, the one where you stick little plastic knives in the barrel and if you hit the wrong hole the pirate pops up. Pirate pops, take a shot.
Nick does a couple of impressions of a Japanese comedy character "Hard Gay Man", hes pretty good at it! and we sing a bit of the ending theme to Naruto Shippuden.
Everyone goes to bed Sake Happy.
BACHIKOI!
A couple of days in Matsumoto
We leave Takayama on the bus heading for Matsumoto.
The bus took about 2 and a half hours with a couple of breaks and went right up to Matsumoto Station, so no fuss. After getting in we left our packs in a coin locker, had some lunch in a place called Sukiya (its a chain food store, the food doesnt look too great at first glance and its cheap but it is surprisingly really good!) and then had a look around town. By this time alot of stuff had shut but there were a couple of big stores to walk around and it was nice to just get the lay of the land.
We spent a couple of hours just playing around in a big store with loads of CDs and books and clothes and stuff. We spent a little while playing on the arcade games on the top floor and I won a Stich watch which I gave to Lauren (I already have a watch and Lauren squeels every time she sees a stich thing because hes cute. There are a lot of Stich things in Japan!)
After a few hours we are picked up by Jim, a friend of a friend that we were introduced to through emails, and went back to his house for a good nights sleep.
The bus took about 2 and a half hours with a couple of breaks and went right up to Matsumoto Station, so no fuss. After getting in we left our packs in a coin locker, had some lunch in a place called Sukiya (its a chain food store, the food doesnt look too great at first glance and its cheap but it is surprisingly really good!) and then had a look around town. By this time alot of stuff had shut but there were a couple of big stores to walk around and it was nice to just get the lay of the land.
We spent a couple of hours just playing around in a big store with loads of CDs and books and clothes and stuff. We spent a little while playing on the arcade games on the top floor and I won a Stich watch which I gave to Lauren (I already have a watch and Lauren squeels every time she sees a stich thing because hes cute. There are a lot of Stich things in Japan!)
After a few hours we are picked up by Jim, a friend of a friend that we were introduced to through emails, and went back to his house for a good nights sleep.
The Next Day...
We leave the house at about 11 (taking advantage of the fact that there is no kick out time!) and meander through Matsumoto untill we reach Matsumoto Castle. It is a beautiful Building from the outside, especially since the rain has finally stopped and we are blessed with a warm day!
Even with it being hot outside, however, inside is FREEZING! How anyone lived in this castle (and they did) I will never know! The wind blows a gale through the entire place, turning it into an ice box. It is cool inside, with explainations about the tactics of samurai and a few weapons that would have been used, but is otherwise a little plain.
Also had a look around Nawate Street (Frog Street), they really love frogs. loads of staues and signs n stuff about frogs. The whole lond street is lined with little market stall type shops selling antiques, I really want an ink well but they are really expensive.
Also had a look around Nawate Street (Frog Street), they really love frogs. loads of staues and signs n stuff about frogs. The whole lond street is lined with little market stall type shops selling antiques, I really want an ink well but they are really expensive.
After this we head to Matsumoto Art Museum and see some instalations by the artist Yayoi (somthing) which were really cool, and some Japanese caligraphy art. We found a small natural spring next tto a small graveyard and had a sip. The local Sake breweries are known for useing this water to make thier bevvies so it should be ok. It was very refreshing.
Jim got home from work around 7 and we went out for a meal.
He ordered these little fish that are cooked when pregnant with loads of eggs (there is more eggs than fish meat) which turn out to be delicious then we get quite drunk on Sake.
The next day I vomit quite alot, sleep lots and dont see Jim as he has to go to work again.
Jim, I am really, really sorry!
We catch a bus back to Takayama and stay for another night at the Zenkoji Temple Inn.
Rain in Shirakawa-Go
We have to get out of Takayama. Because it is raining again and there is a place nearby that you can get to by bus that sounds LOADS more interesting.
Shirakawa-Go is a little village in a remote part of the Japanese Alps that was founded by a clan after nearly being wiped out during a war with another clan.
I will fill in the details later when I have more time but thats the general gist of it.
They decided on this remote place so that they wouldn`t be easily found if anyone wanted to finish the job, and they could just have a nice peaceful life in the mountains, pretty much cut off from the world.
Fast foward to today and many of the original buildings remain and are still in use! There is also an outdoor museum of some heritage buildings which were moved to the site to avoid being destroyed by the building of one of the many dams in the area. You can go inside every building and no area is off limits, you`re pretty much left to your own devices, no one bothers you, you are just trusted to follow the rules on the signs. At each of the buildings you have to take off your shoes before going in and each building has a little display to keep you interested.
We just stayed in and around these older buildings because of the masses of tourists in the town proper. Its not just in London that there are loads of Japanese tourists. There are loads of Japanese tourists in Japan as well.
The little village museum is great, you can spend ages just walking about taking pictures, it seems that the whole place is incredibley photogenic. I`ll throw some pics up soon so I dont have to discribe them.
After pottering about the village in the rain for a few hours, we got some lunch and did a bit of souvineer shopping. We found these tins of sweets that are shown in this Studio Ghibli film called "Grave of the Fireflies" (great film but really depressing!) and I got all excited before buying a couple of tins!
Shirakawa-Go is a little village in a remote part of the Japanese Alps that was founded by a clan after nearly being wiped out during a war with another clan.
I will fill in the details later when I have more time but thats the general gist of it.
They decided on this remote place so that they wouldn`t be easily found if anyone wanted to finish the job, and they could just have a nice peaceful life in the mountains, pretty much cut off from the world.
Fast foward to today and many of the original buildings remain and are still in use! There is also an outdoor museum of some heritage buildings which were moved to the site to avoid being destroyed by the building of one of the many dams in the area. You can go inside every building and no area is off limits, you`re pretty much left to your own devices, no one bothers you, you are just trusted to follow the rules on the signs. At each of the buildings you have to take off your shoes before going in and each building has a little display to keep you interested.
We just stayed in and around these older buildings because of the masses of tourists in the town proper. Its not just in London that there are loads of Japanese tourists. There are loads of Japanese tourists in Japan as well.
The little village museum is great, you can spend ages just walking about taking pictures, it seems that the whole place is incredibley photogenic. I`ll throw some pics up soon so I dont have to discribe them.
After pottering about the village in the rain for a few hours, we got some lunch and did a bit of souvineer shopping. We found these tins of sweets that are shown in this Studio Ghibli film called "Grave of the Fireflies" (great film but really depressing!) and I got all excited before buying a couple of tins!
Rain in Takayama
To get to Takayama we catch a bus which takes about 4 and a half hours struggling up windy mountain roads, over bridges across huge drops, past several dams and through tunnels under mountains.
One of the tunnels was 11 kilometers long (it had a sign)! We were in there for so long, and there were even forks in the tunnel road, that it made me think of the dwarves from LOTR (geek) and Lauren thought that we were going to pop out in ToonTown like in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".
Even though the ride was long it didnt feel it because we were having fun and when we weren`t talking the views were amazing!
When we arrived in Takayama we had a bit of a job finding the hostel. I saw the description and booked it straight away.
We were staying in a buddist temple called Zenkoji Temple Inn which had decided to earn some extra income by converting some of the rooms into dorms, as it could no longer run on donations alone.
We checked in and, as it was already quite late and they had a 10 o`clock shut down, we just stayed in and went to bed.
The next day it was still raining so I bought a cheap umbrella and went around town anyway!
We had been told by everyone we asked about Takayama how beautiful it was and amazing and cultural. First impressions were that it was just a bit of a drab little mountain town.
I might be a little biased because it was raining, and because it was in the Japanese Alps it was really cold but really in town theres not much to see but some old buildings and some little museums.
So after looking at the old houses we went to the museums :P
Most are your usual museums with things in glass boxes but there was one that, when you first go in, just looks like a wierd eclectic collection of stuff that some strange old person just never wanted to throw away! It turned out to be awsome! In one room some old toys and arcade games, in another the room is set out like an old class room with jars of formadahyde with disected animals in, and elsewhere posters and film memoralbelia and cans and bottles and old docters equipment and shoes and cooking utensils and signs and medals and uniforms and cars and loads andloads of just wierd interesting stuff. No explaination, Just Stuff. it was great!
We also found a nice heritage house and talked to a ukranian/American who talked really loud!
When we get back to the hostel I sit in the common room for a while and get chatting to some people who have been traveling together for a little while: Paul, Tom and Tanya and after dinner Me, Luaren, Paul and Tom decide to go out for a drink and try to find a kareoke bar. On the way out we meet a woman called Beralina who is old enough that people think that she is my mum but she is cool enough to come out with us when we ask in passing and she was a really fun lady to go to a bar with!
We start off in a small bar for one drink but end up in a tiny karaoke bar with about 15 seats total and there are three Japanese people who are already Very drunk and who seem to LOVE karaoke!
There are marakas and things on the bar so we join in by playing those for a while, then one of the japanese guys is so happy to hear me talk in Japanese that he buys us Sake and feeds us some pickle stuff! Awsome! After a little while everyone is singing Karaoke until too soon it is closing time and we have to go back to the hostel. Awww.
One of the tunnels was 11 kilometers long (it had a sign)! We were in there for so long, and there were even forks in the tunnel road, that it made me think of the dwarves from LOTR (geek) and Lauren thought that we were going to pop out in ToonTown like in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".
Even though the ride was long it didnt feel it because we were having fun and when we weren`t talking the views were amazing!
When we arrived in Takayama we had a bit of a job finding the hostel. I saw the description and booked it straight away.
We were staying in a buddist temple called Zenkoji Temple Inn which had decided to earn some extra income by converting some of the rooms into dorms, as it could no longer run on donations alone.
We checked in and, as it was already quite late and they had a 10 o`clock shut down, we just stayed in and went to bed.
The next day it was still raining so I bought a cheap umbrella and went around town anyway!
We had been told by everyone we asked about Takayama how beautiful it was and amazing and cultural. First impressions were that it was just a bit of a drab little mountain town.
I might be a little biased because it was raining, and because it was in the Japanese Alps it was really cold but really in town theres not much to see but some old buildings and some little museums.
So after looking at the old houses we went to the museums :P
Most are your usual museums with things in glass boxes but there was one that, when you first go in, just looks like a wierd eclectic collection of stuff that some strange old person just never wanted to throw away! It turned out to be awsome! In one room some old toys and arcade games, in another the room is set out like an old class room with jars of formadahyde with disected animals in, and elsewhere posters and film memoralbelia and cans and bottles and old docters equipment and shoes and cooking utensils and signs and medals and uniforms and cars and loads andloads of just wierd interesting stuff. No explaination, Just Stuff. it was great!
We also found a nice heritage house and talked to a ukranian/American who talked really loud!
When we get back to the hostel I sit in the common room for a while and get chatting to some people who have been traveling together for a little while: Paul, Tom and Tanya and after dinner Me, Luaren, Paul and Tom decide to go out for a drink and try to find a kareoke bar. On the way out we meet a woman called Beralina who is old enough that people think that she is my mum but she is cool enough to come out with us when we ask in passing and she was a really fun lady to go to a bar with!
We start off in a small bar for one drink but end up in a tiny karaoke bar with about 15 seats total and there are three Japanese people who are already Very drunk and who seem to LOVE karaoke!
There are marakas and things on the bar so we join in by playing those for a while, then one of the japanese guys is so happy to hear me talk in Japanese that he buys us Sake and feeds us some pickle stuff! Awsome! After a little while everyone is singing Karaoke until too soon it is closing time and we have to go back to the hostel. Awww.
Giant Golden Poops in Asakusa.
After getting back from Hakone we only have one night before we have planned to catch a highway bus to Takayama in the Japanese Alps.
We check in to Khaosan Guesthouse (original, There are three in Tokyo) in Asakusa, which is really nice. Free internet, soft beds, four room dorm, big TV with some DVDs. Perfect to just sit and relax a bit.
We have a look around a local market and temple. The temple is stunning and the crowds are pretty stunning too, I quiz a Japanese woman who is giving a tour about Japans slightly confusing religious beliefs and she seems as confused as i am.
Shinto shrines have Buddist iconography, Buddist Temples have Spirit guardians, both have a lot of incence and everyone practices both anyway!
I go off to book the bus for the next day which takes a long time traveling and trying to explain what I want with a mix of my broken Japanese and the ticket office mans broken English. This has really helped my survival in Japan. Most people know a small amount of English so a bit of Japanese goes a long way!
By the time I get back to the hostel Lauren has watched the whole of the Matrix but I feel very relaxed after my wondering around the underground stations of Tokyo so we decide to go for a drink in the Asahi office building which is 5 minutes away from the hostel.
I`ll put a picture in eventually but the Asahi building is in Asakusa right next to this giant statue of what is suposed to be a flame. It looks kind of like a giant golden poop and is unmissable.
The offices have a cafe on the 23rd floor where you can enjoy a coffee (in Laurens case) or one of Asahi`s very tasty beers (for me) while enjoying a great view of Tokyo. I had been recomended Asahi Black by Gibbs, so I had that. I want more.
We check in to Khaosan Guesthouse (original, There are three in Tokyo) in Asakusa, which is really nice. Free internet, soft beds, four room dorm, big TV with some DVDs. Perfect to just sit and relax a bit.
We have a look around a local market and temple. The temple is stunning and the crowds are pretty stunning too, I quiz a Japanese woman who is giving a tour about Japans slightly confusing religious beliefs and she seems as confused as i am.
Shinto shrines have Buddist iconography, Buddist Temples have Spirit guardians, both have a lot of incence and everyone practices both anyway!
I go off to book the bus for the next day which takes a long time traveling and trying to explain what I want with a mix of my broken Japanese and the ticket office mans broken English. This has really helped my survival in Japan. Most people know a small amount of English so a bit of Japanese goes a long way!
By the time I get back to the hostel Lauren has watched the whole of the Matrix but I feel very relaxed after my wondering around the underground stations of Tokyo so we decide to go for a drink in the Asahi office building which is 5 minutes away from the hostel.
I`ll put a picture in eventually but the Asahi building is in Asakusa right next to this giant statue of what is suposed to be a flame. It looks kind of like a giant golden poop and is unmissable.
The offices have a cafe on the 23rd floor where you can enjoy a coffee (in Laurens case) or one of Asahi`s very tasty beers (for me) while enjoying a great view of Tokyo. I had been recomended Asahi Black by Gibbs, so I had that. I want more.
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
First views of Fuji-san, and eating Black-Eggs in Hakone
One of the must do things when traveling in Japan has got to be: Go and see Mount Fuji.
Its a no brainer really.
So in this post, eventually, you will get my AMAZING pictures of Fuji-San (Japanese for Mount Fuji for all you dense people) because we were SO lucky to visit Hakone national park on one of the clearest days so far.
We have a pass to travel around Hakone for three days, Which gives us an evening/night, one full day and then a morning to clear out again.
We stay at Kappa Tengoku (Water sprite Heaven) Hostel which has its own Onsen (hot spring bath).
When we arive it is raining for the first time since we got to Japan and I mean it is PISSING IT DOWN! We are NOT looking forward to the next day, trudging about up and down wind swept mountains with a view that extands a few feet in front of our faces, but we decide to make the most of today and enjoy the sound of the rain from the hotel. I head straight for the hotels Onsen.
This is my first time in a real onsen, I have been in a shared bath before so Im used to the whole bathing with other guys in the room, but Im not sure whatto expect from the water. Clear or cloudy, Piping hot or bareable.
The adverts for this hostel said "Our onsen is a little further down the mountains than the others in the area, so our water is a little cooler, but you can still warm up nicely if you have a long soak" so I`m expecting a little on the cool side.
Its freaking BOILING! I have to jump under a cold shower pretty regularly to keep from passing out! But it is still lovely once you get used to the temperature and can bare it for a little longer.
It`s amazing after the madness of Tokyo to be able to just lie back in the hot water, watching steam rising from the pool, and listening to the rain on the plastic roof.
The next day the rain has gone and so have the clouds, leaving the sky a beautiful clear blue, perfect weather for seeing Fuji-San. We head into Hakone proper armed with our free passes which entitle us to all transport inside the national park, which is extensive and well worth it!
Fist a juddery old train up the side of a mountain, then a cable car a bit further up the mountain (you may think we`re lazy but you really don`t want to be walking this unless you are hard core!) then a sky car up to the top of one of the mountains.
From the sky car we get a sight of some new construction for a little spa town with Boiling water spewing from cracks in the ground and staining the rocks a sulpherous yellow.
At the top we leave the sky car (cable car, whatever) and get our first view of Fuji-San. We could not have asked for a better day or a better view, it was amazing!
After a bit of walking further up the mountain we find a spring with a sign that reads "Danger, the water from this spring is 80 oC"! In one there is a man dropping baskets of Eggs into the water to boil them, when they come out they are stained black.
These are apparently famous and are called Kuro-Tamago (simply Black-Eggs) and if you eat one you are said to have 7 years good health.
The ground is covered in egg shells because everybody is eating the black eggs. I ask some Japanese who are eating some if they are good (Language Skills! Mandy-sensei would be proud!) and they say they are delicious and then give one to me and Lauren(through out this whole trip the Japanese people have all been very kind!). They are very nice, but since we shared one egg between us do we only get 3 and a half years of good health?
After taking LOADS of pictures of Fuji-San from this brilliant vantage point we carry on on the sky car back down the mountain to the next type of transport, Boat. across to the other side of the lake. The boat is made for tourists. Made to look like a pirate ship (compleate with a map of the british isles pinned to the wall inside!) it even comes with a guy walking around dressed as a pirate that you can buy a photograph with. LOL
We disembark at the next port and look for the small walking paths that are dotted about.
We found some beautiful gardens which had more views of Fuji but with the sun behind the mountain he was getting hard to see in the distance.
After a bit of trial and error walking about we found an old highway that was built and used hundreds of years ago and got lost on that for a while.
I wanted to find some ancient stone buddas that line one of the old highways in the mountains around Hakone but by this time it was getting late and we were tired and the paths were so hidden that by the time we found the path leading to them we had to head back to town to get the bus back to our hostel.
At the hostel we watched Spongebob Squarepants in Japanese, went in the Onsen, had a bit of munch and the next morning hopped on the train back to Tokyo centre.
Its a no brainer really.
So in this post, eventually, you will get my AMAZING pictures of Fuji-San (Japanese for Mount Fuji for all you dense people) because we were SO lucky to visit Hakone national park on one of the clearest days so far.
We have a pass to travel around Hakone for three days, Which gives us an evening/night, one full day and then a morning to clear out again.
We stay at Kappa Tengoku (Water sprite Heaven) Hostel which has its own Onsen (hot spring bath).
When we arive it is raining for the first time since we got to Japan and I mean it is PISSING IT DOWN! We are NOT looking forward to the next day, trudging about up and down wind swept mountains with a view that extands a few feet in front of our faces, but we decide to make the most of today and enjoy the sound of the rain from the hotel. I head straight for the hotels Onsen.
This is my first time in a real onsen, I have been in a shared bath before so Im used to the whole bathing with other guys in the room, but Im not sure whatto expect from the water. Clear or cloudy, Piping hot or bareable.
The adverts for this hostel said "Our onsen is a little further down the mountains than the others in the area, so our water is a little cooler, but you can still warm up nicely if you have a long soak" so I`m expecting a little on the cool side.
Its freaking BOILING! I have to jump under a cold shower pretty regularly to keep from passing out! But it is still lovely once you get used to the temperature and can bare it for a little longer.
It`s amazing after the madness of Tokyo to be able to just lie back in the hot water, watching steam rising from the pool, and listening to the rain on the plastic roof.
The next day the rain has gone and so have the clouds, leaving the sky a beautiful clear blue, perfect weather for seeing Fuji-San. We head into Hakone proper armed with our free passes which entitle us to all transport inside the national park, which is extensive and well worth it!
Fist a juddery old train up the side of a mountain, then a cable car a bit further up the mountain (you may think we`re lazy but you really don`t want to be walking this unless you are hard core!) then a sky car up to the top of one of the mountains.
From the sky car we get a sight of some new construction for a little spa town with Boiling water spewing from cracks in the ground and staining the rocks a sulpherous yellow.
At the top we leave the sky car (cable car, whatever) and get our first view of Fuji-San. We could not have asked for a better day or a better view, it was amazing!
After a bit of walking further up the mountain we find a spring with a sign that reads "Danger, the water from this spring is 80 oC"! In one there is a man dropping baskets of Eggs into the water to boil them, when they come out they are stained black.
These are apparently famous and are called Kuro-Tamago (simply Black-Eggs) and if you eat one you are said to have 7 years good health.
The ground is covered in egg shells because everybody is eating the black eggs. I ask some Japanese who are eating some if they are good (Language Skills! Mandy-sensei would be proud!) and they say they are delicious and then give one to me and Lauren(through out this whole trip the Japanese people have all been very kind!). They are very nice, but since we shared one egg between us do we only get 3 and a half years of good health?
After taking LOADS of pictures of Fuji-San from this brilliant vantage point we carry on on the sky car back down the mountain to the next type of transport, Boat. across to the other side of the lake. The boat is made for tourists. Made to look like a pirate ship (compleate with a map of the british isles pinned to the wall inside!) it even comes with a guy walking around dressed as a pirate that you can buy a photograph with. LOL
We disembark at the next port and look for the small walking paths that are dotted about.
We found some beautiful gardens which had more views of Fuji but with the sun behind the mountain he was getting hard to see in the distance.
After a bit of trial and error walking about we found an old highway that was built and used hundreds of years ago and got lost on that for a while.
I wanted to find some ancient stone buddas that line one of the old highways in the mountains around Hakone but by this time it was getting late and we were tired and the paths were so hidden that by the time we found the path leading to them we had to head back to town to get the bus back to our hostel.
At the hostel we watched Spongebob Squarepants in Japanese, went in the Onsen, had a bit of munch and the next morning hopped on the train back to Tokyo centre.
"Tsukiji ni ikimasu" Sushi Breakfast in Tsukiji fish market
The night of Akihabara we met a Canadian guy called Nathan. After a bit of story swapping he says "I went to Tsukiji fish market, it was cool but I missed all the Tuna Auctions so I want to go back"
The next day at 4 in the morning we crawl out of bed (me and Lauren, not me and Nathan) so we can make the early morning Tuna auctions of Tsukiji fish market.
At half 4 we meet Nathan in the lobby of the hostel and jump into a taxi (not even the subway is running at this time in the morning!) and mumble "Tsukiji ni Ikimasu" (We`re going to Tsukiji).
We are soon out of the taxi and among hundreds of little stalls setting up their fishy wares, most are wierd and wonderful verieties I have never seen before. Between each stall is just a tiny thin path that you can just about squeeze past the people coming in the opposite direction and around these salty smelling market stalls runs a road full of little transport vehicles stacked with last nights catch.
But right now this is not where we want to be, you can do this part throughout the day. At this time in the morning we are here for only one thing, the giant tuna and the morning auctions.
So, through all this madness we go, right to the back of the market biuldings to a little door marked "tuna auction viewing gallery" (or somthing like that, It was too early to remember exactly) where we are ushered through by a man in an important looking uniform with a hat (all jobs in Japan come with important looking uniforms, they love uniforms!) to a view of a couple hundred or so giant tuna lined up neatly in rows on the floor.
We are auite lucky to be here, a few months ago the tuna auctions were closed to visitors because of hygene issues. They kept finding people kissing or even riding the tuna for a funny picture and got so sick of it that they simply said "no more!", now it is not possible to get within touching disatnce of the fish as all visitors are roped into a small walkway area between two doors which runs across the centre of the room. the idea being, you get ushered in, have a look, take a picture and then get ushered out at the other end.
Today there werent that many people so everyone got to stay, but we were still fairly packed in, like sardines. haha :/
ahem.
Anyway,
them fish is BIG. These were frozen as well so to move them the people working in the market had big hooks on sticks that they would use to just drag the fish about on the floor.
Among these people are the Tuna specialists, these are the ones who decide how much each tuna is worth and there are a lot of fish so they have to do it quickly!
The quality of a tuna can be told from its tail. A bit like counting rings on a tree trunk, the tail is cut off and the quality graded by what is revealed. They cut out a peice of meat, feel the texture for fat, lean, colour, etc then taste it and the overall size of the fish is measured and then a price is assigned. Each fish takes about a minute I think, then onto the next.
After they are all priced the auctions start (alot of shouting and hand signals) then finish very quickly and thats it! Off you go!
After the Auctions we decide to try the ultra fresh sushi in the bars that thrive from the tourism inside the market. This is about as fresh as it gets! straight out of the nets that morning!
It was very nice, if a little expensive, but it was also about 6 in the morning at this point!
At home I like a light breakfast: toast, cereal, maybe an egg butty at about 9 or 10 or 11 o`clock.
Its 6 in the morning and we`re eating RAW FISH, We didnt finish breakfast but we had a damn good go at it!
After breakfast we had a little mooch about the market, another look at the main market stalls (the little ones) and also saw the fruit and vegetable markets which are not as impressive (a veg is a veg). then head off for another look around Akihabara and shinjuku.
The next day at 4 in the morning we crawl out of bed (me and Lauren, not me and Nathan) so we can make the early morning Tuna auctions of Tsukiji fish market.
At half 4 we meet Nathan in the lobby of the hostel and jump into a taxi (not even the subway is running at this time in the morning!) and mumble "Tsukiji ni Ikimasu" (We`re going to Tsukiji).
We are soon out of the taxi and among hundreds of little stalls setting up their fishy wares, most are wierd and wonderful verieties I have never seen before. Between each stall is just a tiny thin path that you can just about squeeze past the people coming in the opposite direction and around these salty smelling market stalls runs a road full of little transport vehicles stacked with last nights catch.
But right now this is not where we want to be, you can do this part throughout the day. At this time in the morning we are here for only one thing, the giant tuna and the morning auctions.
So, through all this madness we go, right to the back of the market biuldings to a little door marked "tuna auction viewing gallery" (or somthing like that, It was too early to remember exactly) where we are ushered through by a man in an important looking uniform with a hat (all jobs in Japan come with important looking uniforms, they love uniforms!) to a view of a couple hundred or so giant tuna lined up neatly in rows on the floor.
We are auite lucky to be here, a few months ago the tuna auctions were closed to visitors because of hygene issues. They kept finding people kissing or even riding the tuna for a funny picture and got so sick of it that they simply said "no more!", now it is not possible to get within touching disatnce of the fish as all visitors are roped into a small walkway area between two doors which runs across the centre of the room. the idea being, you get ushered in, have a look, take a picture and then get ushered out at the other end.
Today there werent that many people so everyone got to stay, but we were still fairly packed in, like sardines. haha :/
ahem.
Anyway,
them fish is BIG. These were frozen as well so to move them the people working in the market had big hooks on sticks that they would use to just drag the fish about on the floor.
Among these people are the Tuna specialists, these are the ones who decide how much each tuna is worth and there are a lot of fish so they have to do it quickly!
The quality of a tuna can be told from its tail. A bit like counting rings on a tree trunk, the tail is cut off and the quality graded by what is revealed. They cut out a peice of meat, feel the texture for fat, lean, colour, etc then taste it and the overall size of the fish is measured and then a price is assigned. Each fish takes about a minute I think, then onto the next.
After they are all priced the auctions start (alot of shouting and hand signals) then finish very quickly and thats it! Off you go!
After the Auctions we decide to try the ultra fresh sushi in the bars that thrive from the tourism inside the market. This is about as fresh as it gets! straight out of the nets that morning!
It was very nice, if a little expensive, but it was also about 6 in the morning at this point!
At home I like a light breakfast: toast, cereal, maybe an egg butty at about 9 or 10 or 11 o`clock.
Its 6 in the morning and we`re eating RAW FISH, We didnt finish breakfast but we had a damn good go at it!
After breakfast we had a little mooch about the market, another look at the main market stalls (the little ones) and also saw the fruit and vegetable markets which are not as impressive (a veg is a veg). then head off for another look around Akihabara and shinjuku.
Electornics, Games and Maid Cafes in Akihabara
Akihabara is COOL!
We had a bit of a lie in (thats about 8 when your here, bloody check out times!) then went to Akihabara.
There are LOADS of HUGE shops and LOADS of small shops but big or small the shops are always PACKED with stuff.
Some of them are purely for electronics, which includes erevything from mobiles and cameras and laptops and computers to electronic dictionaries and calculators and SD cards and the like.
These shops are like warehouses! Some are 9 floors high and i couldnt even tell you how big the floor spaces is, and they are PACKED! did i mention that?
then there are loads of toy shops.
Dan Statham (house mate from Uni, SHOUT OUT!) would love these places! We went in a few of them and they look like a kind of toy collectible swap shop.
People take in thier old collectibles, get a bit of cash and buy somthing else, and the Japanese Otaku REALLY love thier collectible anime standees and junk.
The bulk of stock is made up of Gundam junk and Transformers junk. some is sooo cool (man Im a geek, and i was geeking out for a long time in some of these places!)
AND there are LOADS of shops around here that buy and sell old games consoles, some of these things are so old (and uniquie to Japan) that Ive never seen thenm before! There was one, that some people might remember but Ive never seen it, that has two small screens and you wear like a pair of goggles so that the game appears 3D. This is a really old console and it is apparently the only "true" 3D games gonsole ever to have been made!
The only problem was that if you wear/play it too long it starts to mess with your head and it was taken off of the market after a bunch of kids had seizures! (The Japanese media companies seem to like giving people siezures, this also happened with some episodes of childrens TV series a few years ago)
All along the street on both sides the shops advertise with huge neon signs, sadly it was day time so they were not lit but they were still fairly impressive.
Occasionaly among the crowds we would come across a pretty lady dressed in a (slightly skimpy) maid uniform handing out leaflets for the maid cafes. It is basically a high priced cafe where you are served by hot maids and the tag line is "Welcome home master and mistress". LOTS of horny teenagers! but you`re not allowed to take pictures!
At one point, after getting lost in one of the massive stores that sell general tat for cheap, we found ourselves on the top floor with a massive queue of people (men) waiting to get into a kind of girl group gig and we couldnt find our way back downstairs because the only escalator we could find went up! All a bit creepy...
Not only was Akihabara packed with stuff, it was also packed with people, we went on a sunday and it seemed like the Otaku population of all Tokyo comes on a sunday. but that was OK it added to the fun of the place. We came back here a couple of days later when there werent half the number of people and it wasnt anywhere near as much fun.
We also went to a nice temple...
We had a bit of a lie in (thats about 8 when your here, bloody check out times!) then went to Akihabara.
There are LOADS of HUGE shops and LOADS of small shops but big or small the shops are always PACKED with stuff.
Some of them are purely for electronics, which includes erevything from mobiles and cameras and laptops and computers to electronic dictionaries and calculators and SD cards and the like.
These shops are like warehouses! Some are 9 floors high and i couldnt even tell you how big the floor spaces is, and they are PACKED! did i mention that?
then there are loads of toy shops.
Dan Statham (house mate from Uni, SHOUT OUT!) would love these places! We went in a few of them and they look like a kind of toy collectible swap shop.
People take in thier old collectibles, get a bit of cash and buy somthing else, and the Japanese Otaku REALLY love thier collectible anime standees and junk.
The bulk of stock is made up of Gundam junk and Transformers junk. some is sooo cool (man Im a geek, and i was geeking out for a long time in some of these places!)
AND there are LOADS of shops around here that buy and sell old games consoles, some of these things are so old (and uniquie to Japan) that Ive never seen thenm before! There was one, that some people might remember but Ive never seen it, that has two small screens and you wear like a pair of goggles so that the game appears 3D. This is a really old console and it is apparently the only "true" 3D games gonsole ever to have been made!
The only problem was that if you wear/play it too long it starts to mess with your head and it was taken off of the market after a bunch of kids had seizures! (The Japanese media companies seem to like giving people siezures, this also happened with some episodes of childrens TV series a few years ago)
All along the street on both sides the shops advertise with huge neon signs, sadly it was day time so they were not lit but they were still fairly impressive.
Occasionaly among the crowds we would come across a pretty lady dressed in a (slightly skimpy) maid uniform handing out leaflets for the maid cafes. It is basically a high priced cafe where you are served by hot maids and the tag line is "Welcome home master and mistress". LOTS of horny teenagers! but you`re not allowed to take pictures!
At one point, after getting lost in one of the massive stores that sell general tat for cheap, we found ourselves on the top floor with a massive queue of people (men) waiting to get into a kind of girl group gig and we couldnt find our way back downstairs because the only escalator we could find went up! All a bit creepy...
Not only was Akihabara packed with stuff, it was also packed with people, we went on a sunday and it seemed like the Otaku population of all Tokyo comes on a sunday. but that was OK it added to the fun of the place. We came back here a couple of days later when there werent half the number of people and it wasnt anywhere near as much fun.
We also went to a nice temple...
Sunday, 26 April 2009
STUDIO FREAKING GHIBLI MUSEUM, YEA!
To start, go back to post 1 (one), numero Uno, Ichi Ban...
Sorry, I get a little excited about Studi Ghibli but if you have gone back to the first post (before I left England) then you would know this. And this post is about the day we went to Ghibli. Which was great.
If you have STILL not watched any Ghibli films, like i suggested, then go and watch some coz they are really good.
Or I am just a bit of a child.
Or both.
Whatever.
To get to Studio Ghibli is quite simple, you just catch the train (again) to Mitaka, which is about 30 minutes from the centre of Tokyo, then you walk through Mitaka (follow the signs, they are everywhere and don't take the bus, its a beautiful walk) then get to the gates and BAM! YOU are not allowed in, coz you didn`t read the info on the website to find out that you have to book in advance. While you stand at the gates disappointed, I waltz past with my reservation ticket that I booked a few MONTHS in advance because I DID read the info and found that there are only a few tickets given to foreigners. I was really looking forward to this museum.
So we get to Mitaka with out any trouble, trains are running on time, and get the gates and then start getting more childish than we already were and start taking lots of pictures, untill we get the entrance where we are told "Please, No pictures inside the museum". GUTTED! Ah well.
We go in and there are kids everywhere so we have to fight the little ankle bitters to get to the exhibits but there are loads so thats Ok too.
Man I wish i could show you some pictures.
There were these little models of the characters in various stages of a repeated movement that spun around and then stobe lighting would make it look like they were animated.
And then these film reels that were in a huge loop so that you could see the film twisting around in this giant spagetti muddle and in three or four places the film was projected out at differant places around the room. And blown up pictures, and layered pictures used for filming that you could move yourself to get an idea of how the animation process works.
and this was in the first room!
After a while of crawling through child sized doorways and up spiral staircases and flicking through animators scrap books and the like we found our way to the small cinema room they have for the specially made short animation film only shown in this museum (I feel so special!).
It`s called "Mai and the Baby Cat Bus" and it is a further adventure about some of the characters from the film "My Neighbour Totoro".
It`s really cute and we were laughing along with the rest of the audience (It is all in Japanese but it`s very easy to follow and you dont need to know any Japanese to enjoy it).
After that a couple of photo opportunities (outside the museum) which I have put up here...
Eventually we leave Studio Ghibli and have a Bento Lunch in the park which is right next to the museum and as beautiful as the rest of Mitaka.
GO TO STUDIO GHIBLI!
Friday, 24 April 2009
Shibuya scramble crossing
New day, Same subway, and it`s still mad but it`s slowly beginning to make sense.
you start to get used to the throngs of people and just go with the flow. Subway maps are a blessing!
Today we go to see Ami, a Japanese friend we met through Tom Gibbs (cheers man!) who lives in Tokyo and is currently a university student with two jobs. The Japanese work HARD (gambata Ne!)
We meet her at the Hachiko Dog statue at one of the exits from Shibuya station. It comes out directly onto the famous scamble crossing and the statue is a popular meeting point for people going out with friends in Shibuya.
The story goes that there was a man who lived in Shibuya who owned an Akita dog named Hachiko.
Every day, when the owner went to work, Hachiko would see him off at the station and every day, when the dogs master came home on the train, Hachiko would sit waiting for when he returned at the same exit.
Until 1925 when Hachikos master died of a heart attack at the university where he worked.
Hachiko was given to a new family but everyday the dog would escape to be found waiting at the train station for his master, and he continued to do so until his own death 10 years later.
In his honour a statue was erected by the locals which is now known as chūken Hachikō "faithful dog Hachiko".
Ami quickly takes us to a Starbucks overlooking the Shibuya scramble crossing so we can take some pics and enjoy a coffee as we watch the cars and people taking it in turns to pass by.
Watching it now looks like masses of people but we go back to Shibuya later in the week and there about three times more people that time than the first!
Its nice to take a break and people watch but there is too much to see to just sit about in Starbucks so we move out into the street.
One of the first places we head into is a games arcade. If you think you know a games arcade then you are mistaken! these places are amazing! They have all the games you are used to and so much more! We have a quick go on a Mario kart game (I win, WOOP!) and play about in a photo booth that you can play with the pictures after.
But then it starts to get weirder and better.
In England we have Football cards and pokemon cards, they're nothing to write home about, but with the Japanese cards you go into an arcade and they have tables that read where you place your cards and then your formation comes up on a big screen and then you play a video game with them! And then there are these booths that sit in and its like a cockpit in some futuristic space ship thing and theres a massive wrap around screen in front of you but you cant play unless you have the card! They look SO COOL but i couldn't play! NOOOOO!
here's a pic inside...
and outside...
Lauren wasn't so thrilled about the big games :P
These pics were taken a couple of days after we met with Ami, but you get the picture.
After the awesomeness of gaming we head to some HUGE shops that have everything and buy a couple of little prezzies and souvenirs and then to Moss Burger.
Moss Burger is just a Japanese fast food burger chain but Tom Gibbs raves about it so we thought we'd give it a go. It's not that good Gibbs...
We meet with some of Amis friends and head to Takeshima Street. Apparently quite a famous shopping street and it certainly was full of people! and lots of stuff. It is far too easy to find things to spend money on in Tokyo.
Then on to more shops, we pass by Condomania (you can probably figure that one out) and spend a while in Kiddieworld. toys, Toys, TOYS. lots of em. Finally we have to head, because Ami has to go to work. We follow her coz I think it will be funny to see her working (Japanese restaurant and shop assistants have to act very politely, lots of bowing and thanking you and stuff.) but shes really busy so I dont get to take the mick.
you start to get used to the throngs of people and just go with the flow. Subway maps are a blessing!
Today we go to see Ami, a Japanese friend we met through Tom Gibbs (cheers man!) who lives in Tokyo and is currently a university student with two jobs. The Japanese work HARD (gambata Ne!)
We meet her at the Hachiko Dog statue at one of the exits from Shibuya station. It comes out directly onto the famous scamble crossing and the statue is a popular meeting point for people going out with friends in Shibuya.
The story goes that there was a man who lived in Shibuya who owned an Akita dog named Hachiko.
Every day, when the owner went to work, Hachiko would see him off at the station and every day, when the dogs master came home on the train, Hachiko would sit waiting for when he returned at the same exit.
Until 1925 when Hachikos master died of a heart attack at the university where he worked.
Hachiko was given to a new family but everyday the dog would escape to be found waiting at the train station for his master, and he continued to do so until his own death 10 years later.
In his honour a statue was erected by the locals which is now known as chūken Hachikō "faithful dog Hachiko".
Ami quickly takes us to a Starbucks overlooking the Shibuya scramble crossing so we can take some pics and enjoy a coffee as we watch the cars and people taking it in turns to pass by.
Watching it now looks like masses of people but we go back to Shibuya later in the week and there about three times more people that time than the first!
Its nice to take a break and people watch but there is too much to see to just sit about in Starbucks so we move out into the street.
One of the first places we head into is a games arcade. If you think you know a games arcade then you are mistaken! these places are amazing! They have all the games you are used to and so much more! We have a quick go on a Mario kart game (I win, WOOP!) and play about in a photo booth that you can play with the pictures after.
But then it starts to get weirder and better.
In England we have Football cards and pokemon cards, they're nothing to write home about, but with the Japanese cards you go into an arcade and they have tables that read where you place your cards and then your formation comes up on a big screen and then you play a video game with them! And then there are these booths that sit in and its like a cockpit in some futuristic space ship thing and theres a massive wrap around screen in front of you but you cant play unless you have the card! They look SO COOL but i couldn't play! NOOOOO!
here's a pic inside...
and outside...
Lauren wasn't so thrilled about the big games :P
These pics were taken a couple of days after we met with Ami, but you get the picture.
After the awesomeness of gaming we head to some HUGE shops that have everything and buy a couple of little prezzies and souvenirs and then to Moss Burger.
Moss Burger is just a Japanese fast food burger chain but Tom Gibbs raves about it so we thought we'd give it a go. It's not that good Gibbs...
We meet with some of Amis friends and head to Takeshima Street. Apparently quite a famous shopping street and it certainly was full of people! and lots of stuff. It is far too easy to find things to spend money on in Tokyo.
Then on to more shops, we pass by Condomania (you can probably figure that one out) and spend a while in Kiddieworld. toys, Toys, TOYS. lots of em. Finally we have to head, because Ami has to go to work. We follow her coz I think it will be funny to see her working (Japanese restaurant and shop assistants have to act very politely, lots of bowing and thanking you and stuff.) but shes really busy so I dont get to take the mick.
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Japanese school girls at Imperial gardens.
Firstly, sorry this has taken me so long to write but the internet is strangly expensive in this country. Anyways.
Second day.
We woke up at around seven, good and early after all the sleep the night before (about 12 hours or more) and we couldnt get back to sleep so i decided to have a shower and try out the outdoor shared bath. The shower rooms are split male and female but then they are all in a shared room with about 5 low set showers with little plastic stools. After showering you can use the baths (they are for relaxing and soaking in, not for washing!)
After a couple of minutes of me soaking in the tub another guy comes in. At first it is a little strange bathing with another guy but after you get over yourself and just accept it it is really nice just to relax in this huge tub. (these aren`t your average size bathroom baths you get at home, they`re like big deep paddling pools that you can stretch out in and the water comes up to your neck when you sit down so we`re not scrubing each others backs or anything).
After a good soak and another try at the laberinthine Tokyo tube system we turn up at the Imperial Palace Gardens.
This place is great for a relaxing first day. Plus they`re free to get in! Which when you see them is amazing. They`re impecibly maintaned by an army of blue uniformed cleaners, which we got the pleasure of seeing at work while we were there. Below is a picture of them, I know its a little small but all those little blue people is a worker (most of them are up the hill to the right).
As soon as we get past the entrance into the gardens we have our first encounter with a gaggle of Japanese school girls. Seeing Lauren they immediatly start excitedly pointing and saying "Kawaii!" (Cute!) and then to Lauren "You are very pretty!" as an after thought I apparently am a "nice guy" and "Kokoi", which i asked my Japanese friend Ami about and it means "Cool" so not so bad.
Lauren says she wants to take some home.
We walk around the garden for a while taking plenty of pictures and getting a lot of greetings in broken English. Lauren finds an old man and a small child that she also thinks are cute and wants to bring home. At this rate we are going to come back to England with an entire Japanese family!
We leave the Imperial Gardens and stumble on a science museum which looks fun so we go in and pay the couple hundred Yen for entry. As soon as we get inside another gaggle of Japanese school girls starts pointing and "Kawaii"ing at Lauren. Every time this happens she goes bright red and mumbles "Arigato" which just makes the girls Kawaii even more.
So far Lauren is averaging a couple of Kawaii`s a day on this trip and not just from school girls! Loads of old women on the street stop to Kawaii and a few at shop counters. You`d think I`d get some kudos for traveling with a girl who deserves so much Kawaii but they just tend to ignore me! Ah well. anyway.
The Science museum is good for a couple of hours of childish entertainment and there are lots of toys to play with. At one point there are some cool Mecha type full size robot models and one "greeting Bot" which looks really creepily human!
Second day.
We woke up at around seven, good and early after all the sleep the night before (about 12 hours or more) and we couldnt get back to sleep so i decided to have a shower and try out the outdoor shared bath. The shower rooms are split male and female but then they are all in a shared room with about 5 low set showers with little plastic stools. After showering you can use the baths (they are for relaxing and soaking in, not for washing!)
After a couple of minutes of me soaking in the tub another guy comes in. At first it is a little strange bathing with another guy but after you get over yourself and just accept it it is really nice just to relax in this huge tub. (these aren`t your average size bathroom baths you get at home, they`re like big deep paddling pools that you can stretch out in and the water comes up to your neck when you sit down so we`re not scrubing each others backs or anything).
After a good soak and another try at the laberinthine Tokyo tube system we turn up at the Imperial Palace Gardens.
This place is great for a relaxing first day. Plus they`re free to get in! Which when you see them is amazing. They`re impecibly maintaned by an army of blue uniformed cleaners, which we got the pleasure of seeing at work while we were there. Below is a picture of them, I know its a little small but all those little blue people is a worker (most of them are up the hill to the right).
As soon as we get past the entrance into the gardens we have our first encounter with a gaggle of Japanese school girls. Seeing Lauren they immediatly start excitedly pointing and saying "Kawaii!" (Cute!) and then to Lauren "You are very pretty!" as an after thought I apparently am a "nice guy" and "Kokoi", which i asked my Japanese friend Ami about and it means "Cool" so not so bad.
Lauren says she wants to take some home.
We walk around the garden for a while taking plenty of pictures and getting a lot of greetings in broken English. Lauren finds an old man and a small child that she also thinks are cute and wants to bring home. At this rate we are going to come back to England with an entire Japanese family!
We leave the Imperial Gardens and stumble on a science museum which looks fun so we go in and pay the couple hundred Yen for entry. As soon as we get inside another gaggle of Japanese school girls starts pointing and "Kawaii"ing at Lauren. Every time this happens she goes bright red and mumbles "Arigato" which just makes the girls Kawaii even more.
So far Lauren is averaging a couple of Kawaii`s a day on this trip and not just from school girls! Loads of old women on the street stop to Kawaii and a few at shop counters. You`d think I`d get some kudos for traveling with a girl who deserves so much Kawaii but they just tend to ignore me! Ah well. anyway.
The Science museum is good for a couple of hours of childish entertainment and there are lots of toys to play with. At one point there are some cool Mecha type full size robot models and one "greeting Bot" which looks really creepily human!
Thursday, 16 April 2009
planes, trains and jetlag in chidori-cho
hello all! this is the first post I'm writing to you from lovely sunny Japan and its about flights and stuff so sorry about that but I'll try to get it out of the way in a summarized not-too-boring kind of way. So here we go:
England - 5 AM
We wake up and i have a shower, its only been a few hours since i packed and we went to the pub where i had a couple more than i had intended (Not to say I've got a handover, I'm just not as fresh as I'd like, then again who is at 5 in the morning?). Have a cup of coffee then shift on out at...
6AM
Jump in the car. My mum [bless her for getting up and driving us to heathrow] drops us off at the terminal. No fuss, all good.
7.30AM
We're at the airport and go through without any fuss. make some phone calls, send some texts untill we have to turn off our phones "and all electronic devices" when we get on the plane for take off at...
10.30AM
We take off. The plane is small and there is no entertainment whatsoever. I dread to see the next plane we have to catch in helsinki airport for the long leg of the flight. The trip to Helsinki is only 2 hours. The one to Tokyo is about 10 [still, better than the 13 we thought it was going to be.
[have now lost track of the time]
We land in Helsinki then get on the next plane soon after.
All our fears were unfounded. Everyone, FLY FINNAIR! THEY ARE YOUR FREINDS! Films, TV shows, Games and lots of leg room. The only downside is that i now have stomach cramps from the beer the night before and the plane food a few hours ago and so have to serrupticiously drop gas every now and then for reasons of comfort and my own sanity. luckily we are sat next to the toilets,which did not smell at all but hopefully everyone else assumed they did.
There, i admited it, it was me, I'm sorry. But Ha.
8.30 [Tokyo time] [About 12.30PM British]
We land, thank god! No sleep since we woke up on the 14th it's a confusing time in the morning, we're shattered and Lauren is NOT HAPPY! Oh, no.
We`ve had no sleep on the journey so far, which sucks. I cant sleep on planes and I dont think Lauren even tried, and we still have about an hour and a half on the Tokyos trains before we get to our hotel [Ryokan really but I`ll get to that].
The first train is fine except it is the first really comfortable seat either of us have sat in in hours so both of us are now struggling to not fall asleep after so long of struggling for it.
Between long blinks we can see tree covered hills and small groups of houses and paddy fields glide past until the scenery changes gradually to an urban landscape.
We arive in Kamata train station over an hour later and stumble through the crowds trying to find the right place to buy a ticket for our next train.
Westand for about 10 minutes staring at a board trying to match the Kanji symbols on our maps to those on the wall before an American stops and tells us that we are at the wrong ticket point! Durr.
Japanese train stations can be VAST, I mean HUGE. In the main stations you can walk down what start to look like entire underground streets to get from one platform to another, and they have shops and cafes to match. So the ticket stations are split up so that if you want to buy a ticket for the Chou line you have to walk to the gate first. This is the first time I`ve been in a Japanese train station and it is nearly 24hours of travel since sleep! :P
Ryokan Kangetsu:
To get here go to Chidori-Cho station.
The first train here is a bit of a blur for me and we quickly found our way to the hotel with a map I had printed in England (I did SOME research, yay for me).
The hotel, if a bit out of town, is really veryu pretty. it has a small, well kept garden with some old looking trees, small stepping stones leading to our room over a little pond thing, small bridges and seating areas and an outside bath (seperate baths for men and women).
As soon as we get into the room Lauren falls asleep but I head for the shower and it soon wakes me up so i decide to have a little walk around the town to see what its like.
It turns out quite quaint, the train station is small and has a level crossing, the streets are on hills but there is no view because all of the buildings are close together and some quite tall.
Later on, when Lauren finally wakes up, we decide that its time for food so we go for a drink in a local bar called `The Dauphin Bar` (thats Dolphin to you and me), which turns out to be a tiny room with a bar with stools and three tables, but no food.
I find this out when I get my limited Japanese muddled, wanting to ask "do you have food?" instead I simply blurt "I want Food!" to which a bemused bar man passes me a bowl of Pistachio nuts and backs away.
While sitting and drinking Lauren decides that she wants to own a bar just like this.
After a drink and still hungry we decide to get something from the convenience store (combini). It is like any other 27/7 anywhere except the food we take to the counter is heated for us.
The man at the counter is extreamly polite, chattering in Japanese shop talk and bowing everytime he scans an item, packs anything into our bags and as we leave the store.
We head back to the hotel, eat and promptly fall asleep.
And so ends our first day in Japan. A lot of planes, a lot of trains, a LOT of people and some garbled language.
sorry i took at lot of time to tell you about not much at all :p
Japanese:
Introductions:
England - 5 AM
We wake up and i have a shower, its only been a few hours since i packed and we went to the pub where i had a couple more than i had intended (Not to say I've got a handover, I'm just not as fresh as I'd like, then again who is at 5 in the morning?). Have a cup of coffee then shift on out at...
6AM
Jump in the car. My mum [bless her for getting up and driving us to heathrow] drops us off at the terminal. No fuss, all good.
7.30AM
We're at the airport and go through without any fuss. make some phone calls, send some texts untill we have to turn off our phones "and all electronic devices" when we get on the plane for take off at...
10.30AM
We take off. The plane is small and there is no entertainment whatsoever. I dread to see the next plane we have to catch in helsinki airport for the long leg of the flight. The trip to Helsinki is only 2 hours. The one to Tokyo is about 10 [still, better than the 13 we thought it was going to be.
[have now lost track of the time]
We land in Helsinki then get on the next plane soon after.
All our fears were unfounded. Everyone, FLY FINNAIR! THEY ARE YOUR FREINDS! Films, TV shows, Games and lots of leg room. The only downside is that i now have stomach cramps from the beer the night before and the plane food a few hours ago and so have to serrupticiously drop gas every now and then for reasons of comfort and my own sanity. luckily we are sat next to the toilets,which did not smell at all but hopefully everyone else assumed they did.
There, i admited it, it was me, I'm sorry. But Ha.
8.30 [Tokyo time] [About 12.30PM British]
We land, thank god! No sleep since we woke up on the 14th it's a confusing time in the morning, we're shattered and Lauren is NOT HAPPY! Oh, no.
We`ve had no sleep on the journey so far, which sucks. I cant sleep on planes and I dont think Lauren even tried, and we still have about an hour and a half on the Tokyos trains before we get to our hotel [Ryokan really but I`ll get to that].
The first train is fine except it is the first really comfortable seat either of us have sat in in hours so both of us are now struggling to not fall asleep after so long of struggling for it.
Between long blinks we can see tree covered hills and small groups of houses and paddy fields glide past until the scenery changes gradually to an urban landscape.
We arive in Kamata train station over an hour later and stumble through the crowds trying to find the right place to buy a ticket for our next train.
Westand for about 10 minutes staring at a board trying to match the Kanji symbols on our maps to those on the wall before an American stops and tells us that we are at the wrong ticket point! Durr.
Japanese train stations can be VAST, I mean HUGE. In the main stations you can walk down what start to look like entire underground streets to get from one platform to another, and they have shops and cafes to match. So the ticket stations are split up so that if you want to buy a ticket for the Chou line you have to walk to the gate first. This is the first time I`ve been in a Japanese train station and it is nearly 24hours of travel since sleep! :P
Ryokan Kangetsu:
To get here go to Chidori-Cho station.
The first train here is a bit of a blur for me and we quickly found our way to the hotel with a map I had printed in England (I did SOME research, yay for me).
The hotel, if a bit out of town, is really veryu pretty. it has a small, well kept garden with some old looking trees, small stepping stones leading to our room over a little pond thing, small bridges and seating areas and an outside bath (seperate baths for men and women).
As soon as we get into the room Lauren falls asleep but I head for the shower and it soon wakes me up so i decide to have a little walk around the town to see what its like.
It turns out quite quaint, the train station is small and has a level crossing, the streets are on hills but there is no view because all of the buildings are close together and some quite tall.
Later on, when Lauren finally wakes up, we decide that its time for food so we go for a drink in a local bar called `The Dauphin Bar` (thats Dolphin to you and me), which turns out to be a tiny room with a bar with stools and three tables, but no food.
I find this out when I get my limited Japanese muddled, wanting to ask "do you have food?" instead I simply blurt "I want Food!" to which a bemused bar man passes me a bowl of Pistachio nuts and backs away.
While sitting and drinking Lauren decides that she wants to own a bar just like this.
After a drink and still hungry we decide to get something from the convenience store (combini). It is like any other 27/7 anywhere except the food we take to the counter is heated for us.
The man at the counter is extreamly polite, chattering in Japanese shop talk and bowing everytime he scans an item, packs anything into our bags and as we leave the store.
We head back to the hotel, eat and promptly fall asleep.
And so ends our first day in Japan. A lot of planes, a lot of trains, a LOT of people and some garbled language.
sorry i took at lot of time to tell you about not much at all :p
Japanese:
Introductions:
I am (Matt) - Watashi wa (Matt) desu
This is (Lauren) - Ko chira wa (Lauren) desu
What is your name? - O-namae wa?
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Getting ready to leave.
Heya All!
So, we're leaving the shores of Ol' Blighty in less than a week from now so I thought I'd get a blog ready before we get gone.
So there you go.
So, we're leaving the shores of Ol' Blighty in less than a week from now so I thought I'd get a blog ready before we get gone.
And so begins the journey to the land of the rising sun, like so many great adventures, in a very average and mundane way; I'm trying to decide what to pack. Well, I'm actually avoiding packing (because i cant really be bothered yet) and writing this blog to you instead!
So, rather than bore you with an itemized list of my luggage I will instead tell you a couple of the things that we plan to pack into the short trip we have planned in Japan. (One month by the way)
Studio Ghibli Museum! ohmygodohmygodohmygod!
Mitaka
www.ghibli-museum.jp/en/
Anyone who knows me well knows that I love Anime and I LOVE Studio Ghibli films. If you are one of those who has never watched a Studio Ghibli film then SHAME ON YOU!
Go away and watch 'My Neighbor Totoro'(One of Laurens favorite films), 'Howls Moving Castle', 'Spirited Away' and 'Tales From Earth Sea' then I will welcome you back.
This Museum is dedicated to everything Ghibli so i know that we'll love it.
Tsukiji Fish Market
Tokyo
An amazing looking fish market through which most of the best fish are sold and sent to all corners of Japan, the most famous being Giant Tuna.
For a while foreign tourists were banned from attending this market because of "hygiene risks" after many were caught 'riding' the giant tuna for photo ops! Cool.
Hakone National Park
A beautiful looking national park, this is supposed to be one of the best places to see Mount Fuji (or Fuji-San). So worth a look!
Fuji-Q Highland Themepark
Yamanashi Prefecture
This place has the longest walkthrough Horror House in the world! Plus all the other rides you would expect from a theme park but with the added danger thrill that we can't understand the safety instructions! WooHoo!
Nikko National Park
Nikko
For a little Zen time after Tokyo this place has some beautiful Shrines, woodland and Onsen baths. Time to get Nekid!
SUMO! YEA!
Wherever
Who DOESN'T want to see two fat guys in nothin but their pants giving each other wedgies and throwing each other around?! Seriously!
Sony Building
Tokyo
The Sony Building is Huge. With shops, see and play Showrooms, Restaurants, pretty much everything to keep you entertained for a good few hours, or so I'm told.
Kamikochi National Park
Nagano
They have Monkeys! Snow Monkeys! They chill out in the hot spring baths all day! and they're Monkeys! I think you get the picture. Just in case you don't; heres a picture!
So there you go.
Just as an added bonus I thought I'd end each post by teaching you a useful little japanese phrase or two. So here's todays lesson class:
Greetings!
Hello - Kon-nichi-wa
Good Morning - O-haio-gozaimasu
Good Evening - Kon-ban-wa
Much Love and Sayonara,
Matt (and Lauren) X
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