The last one.

Well, I'm back in Canada now - but I need to wrap up the blog by updating the last few days I spent in Tokyo.

After Beppu I headed up to Himeji and spent the afternoon exploring Himeji castle, as well as the covered shopping street leading up to it. I was raining and overcast, but I did manage to get a few nice pictures. I caught the train the rest of the way up to Tokyo and spent the night in the "Green Plaza Shinjuku Capsule" hotel - it was fun finding the place, Shinjuku is pretty much the busiest place in Tokyo. I was tired, but the next day I got up early and caught the train to Nasushiobara where I met my friend Makoto.
He and his wife met me at the train station with their little daughter, who we dropped off at his brothers place out in the suburbs of the town. We stayed there for a while and I met his family, then we left for a "hobby farm". The farm was set up somewhat like a market, but it also had some rides and things to look at. We had lunch at an Italian restaurant nearby after wandering around for a while. Our next stop was Sesshoseki, "The Killing Stone". Essentially it is a valley with hydrogen sulfide gas leaking out everywhere, so it (and the surrounding town) smells like farts all the time. The legend is that the nine tailed fox demon who had been terrorizing China and Korea finally came to Japan, and was sealed here in a giant stone, which was then shattered by a monk. The place was very surreal, a valley with volcanic rocks and a stench of death. There was a shrine on the hill overlooking the valley, incidentally it was the same shrine where Makotos sister was married. We walked down the stairs from the shrine and took a foot bath in a small hot spring (the water was very hot). It was getting later in the day so we drove back into town and went for supper at a sushi train restaurant - first time for me, a nice way to end the day. They dropped me off at the station and I made my way to my hostel back in Tokyo.

The next day I went down to Sensoji to buy souvenirs then back to Akihabara again, spent pretty much all day wandering through shops and looking at all the cool stuff there. I found a store that sold airsoft guns and equipment... they had everything... pistols, rifles, machine guns- big and small. I bought a face mask and called it a day. I woke up early the next morning to finish my shopping down in Akiba, but I failed to plan my trip to the airport properly... so I started heading back to my hostel at 3:00, left at 4:00 - got to the airport at 6:45... my plane took off at 7:00, without me. I panicked a bit, called my parents and they arranged for me to fly out on the 10th, instead of the 7th. I got myself back together and booked a cheap hotel for the next few days then hopped on a train to it. I got off at the JR Koiwa station, wandered around for 10 minutes then went back to the station and asked a police man where the hotel was. It was at the Keisei (another rail company) station, not the JR station. He flagged down a cab for me and sent me on my way - took about 5 minutes to get to the right place, not a big deal in the end. I slept in late the next day and went down to Akiba again, this time I actually bought some stuff at the airsoft shop ("Aso bit city - hobby" if you want to know). I got a combat suit, a different face mask, a sling for my M4 and some Bolle airsoft goggles. I went back to my hotel and ordered some pizza - which was an adventure in itself... I got what I ordered but it was interesting trying to order in Japanese without being able to gesture or point at pictures.
The next morning I hopped the subway down to Shinjuku and went up the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building to the observation deck on the 54th floor. It is the tallest sky scraper in Tokyo - quite a sight. Afterwards I went down to Roppongi and visited Roppongi Hills - a hyper-modern district in tokyo, all brand new. I went up the Roppongi hills tower to visit the Mori art museum, the current exhibition was "The Kaleidoscopic Eye". The collection was a bunch of modern avaunt guarde pieces... the majority of which were very though provoking. I got some good photos of the Tokyo Tower from the sky deck on top of Roppongi hills, then headed back to my hotel. The next morning I had one last trip down to Akiba, I got the 8th "Yotsuba" book then headed to the airport around 2:30, got there at 4:00.
The flight back seemed very short, I watched "Yes Man" and "Marley and Me", slept a bit, listened to music. Transfered in Vancover, had some "lunch" at Whitespot in the airport then got on the plane back to Winnipeg.

I am happy to be back, but I am missing Japan. I'm having an "AWESOME" time adjusting back to the timezone here, and am glad that I can have breakfast cereal/pancakes whenever I want (strange, but true). It's going to be a few days before I can normalize, but I don't think it'll be too bad.

Well thats it for now - hopefully I can go back again!

Pictures from the last few days!

So I went to Mt. Aso today - pretty much the biggest volcano in japan. Its not so active anymore, but there was a steaming pond at the top (complete with dangerous SO2 gas). I started off at the town below, took a bus to the top area, rode a cable car to the summit and walked around for a while. Then I took the cable car back down and walked a few kilo's to the Mt. Aso Volcano museum, which was also kinda interesting (but old..). Then I took the bus back down the mountain, had some supper at a cafe and caught the train back to Beppu. I'm leaving for Himeji/Tokyo tomorrow, the last few days should be fun.

Here are a few videos that I took at the top of Mt. Aso.

Kanazawa, Takayama and Shirakawa go

Oh wow, long time with no posts. Well instead of going to Fukuoka we went up to Kanazawa and saw the gardens up there. We visited Kanazawa Castle and Kenroken Garden on the first day, but then Mike had to head back to Tokyo because his JR pass was about to expire. I spent the next day in Kanazawa, saw the samurai district then headed to Takayama the next morning. Takayama is in the Gifu prefecture, pretty much central japan - in the mountains. It was very beautiful, water/streams everywhere and lots of old buildings. Takayama has a very nice "Old town", so I wandered through there for a while, then went to figure out the bus schedual and lodging info for Shirakawa go, my next stop. I left Takayama in the morning, and arrived in Shirakawa go around noon. The town is a village of old farm houses "Gassho Zuriki", steep grass thatched roofs. I walked to the observation point after checking in, then wandered around until about 5, then went back for supper. We had a very traditional japanese dinner, then I went to the local Onsen for a soak. In the morning we had a japanese style breakfast, then caught the bus back to Takayama and the train to Nagoya. I didn't do much in Nagoya, just went to an internet cafe to figure out lodging again and then checked in at a business hotel. I went to the Outback steakhouse for dinner... very good, very not japanese. I got up at 9 and caught the train to Beppu - a hotspring town in Kyushu (island south of the main island, Honshu). I'm staying at a youth hostel here - plan to go see if I can see a volcano tomorrow (the whole island is riddled with them).

Anyway - pictures from the last few days are Here, here and here

Well I managed to skip a day trip in my last blog - before we stayed at the capsule in we went to visit the shinto shrines in Ise - they were very awe inspiring. The one we visited was the outer shrine, nestled up on a mountian in a forest. We took some pictures then headed back to the town to eat supper. We found a small noodle place and went in, the two owners were really friendly - even went so far as to mention a job opening teaching english at a local school. We caught the train back to Nagoya, and thats when we stayed at the capsule place.

A day later we went to Miyajima. Michael had to treck back to Kyoto because he forgot his camera at the hostel there. I got to the hostel - which was amazing to say the least (Right on the waterfront, 2 minutes from the ferry to the island, amazing view), dropped off my bags then headed over to Miyajima island. The ferry ride was short, we passed by the "floating" (tide was out.. wasn't floating) Torii gate. I got off the ferry and started up a small road, away from the crowds. I walked for a while, passed some cherry blossoms, went under a tunnel then ran into some of the islands tame deer. When I say tame I mean you could literally walk up to and pet them. They looked a bit haggard though, there was apparently a ban on feeding them a year or two back due to population issues. I went on up the hill, snapping pictures as I walked until I came to a small path that went up the mountain side. I walked up it, and it lead onto a larger nature trail, which went up to the top of Mount Misen. The climb took me just under two hours - but I was pretty thirsty when I got to the top. I came out of the forest on top of a monkey colony, I took a few minutes of video, then took the ropeway back down. I walked past a few shrines down to the torii gate - the sun was setting and it was very beautiful. I ran into Mike, so we took some pictures then took the ferry back to the mainland and had supper.

Today we are going to Fukuoka, which is on the southern end of the main island - staying overnight there then Mike will be heading back to Tokyo.

Photos from Ise and Miyajima

Down with the sickness

Ugh, hayfever. I hate it... never had it before, but apparently I do get it in japan. Last night Michael and myself stayed in a capsule hotel in nagoya - it was a very nice one, almost like a REAL hotel. They had a very nice bath/sauna/hot tub area, only drawback was you had to be COMPLETELY naked to go in - so there was a bunch of naked old dudes - along with michael and me, sitting in hot water. I didn't really have time to take pictures of the capsules, but if/when I visit another one I'll be sure to take some. Today was Kyoto, got in at 11:39. We went to see Nijo castle - a spectacular feudal era complex, complete with a moat. It was very old looking - the castle itself was 400 years old. We started going to the golden pavilion but I started to feel my symptoms and it was getting cold so I headed back to the hostel. So I've been here for a while, made a trip to the pharmacy to get some medicine - hopefully I feel better tomorrow. I'll put up a link to some pictures when I get the chance - tomorrow evening most likely.

A few days later...

Phew - well alright, its been a few days but I'm ready to update the blog once again. I went to the Tokyo International Anime Fair on the 20th/21st, held at Tokyo Big Sight - it was very, very busy. There were exihibits from all the main anime studios/production houses - as well as some universities and colleges. The first day wasn't as busy as the second - more events happened the second day. There were models dressed up as characters posing for photos and handing out fliers/swag. The event its self wasn't that great, but there were plenty of cool people and things to look at.

On Sunday the 22rd Bryan, Michael and myself went up to Nikko - a small shrine village, full of history. Bryan and Michael are both from California, really nice guys. It was overcast and rain was coming and going - but nothing more than a gentle shower. The clouds looked cool over the mountains, and fog was present most of the time, making for a few good photos. We got into Nikko and wandered around for a while, looking for a post office to get some cash. We walked the length of the town, then half way back before we found one - we then went to eat at Skylark. After eating we went back up to the "Shinkyo" bridge, It was a very scenic view from the side. We had no real path while walking up the mountian, but we encountered several temples and shrines. Most attractions were closed due to the weekend, but it was still a very nice trip. On the way back Bryan bought a bottle of sake and we drank it on the train. Thats one thing about Japan I've learned - it is perfectly socially acceptable to drink in public... no one will stop you or even give notice to you. So long as you behave (which we did, it wasn't really strong stuff), you're not even viewed as a nussiance.

Today (Monday the 23rd), Bryan, Michael and myself went up to Mitaka to visit the Ghibli animation museum. We had to get tickets so we went to the Lawson near the train station, but they were sold out. We went anyway, thinking we could get them there. We wandered around for like an hour in Inogashira park, looking for the museum. We found it and asked the attendant if we could buy tickets, but he said that we had to get them before we arrived in the country - or a the lawson. Dejected we stood around for a while, then started back to the train. We had got about 100 feet away when the attendant chased me down and said that we could get tickets! He took my name, and wrote a voucher for us then directed us back to the nearest lawson to pick them up - said it was a "very special" case - and to keep it discreet. We were pretty happy about it, so we went to get our tickets and went on in. The Ghibli museum is very very well designed, every detail is attended to. The exhibits were intricate and interesting (unfortunentaly we were prohibited from taking pictures, but we got a few in the areas we were allowed to). After the museum we headed down to Tokyo station where Bryan split off from Michael and myself to go to Sendai - we continued to Kamakura.

In Kamakura we saw the Daibutsu or "Great buddha". We walked from the train station about 2 km, and made it to the shrine area. The buddha was huge, 11.3 meters tall, cast of bronze - weighing 12 tons. After taking photos we went down to a temple garden and walked up a mountain to a viewing point. Kamakura is an ocean town, so the view was very nice. It was getting late and we were hungry so we started walking back towards the station. We stopped at a yakitori stand and got some grilled chicken, it was tasty. We messed up the train to tokyo so we had to transfer a few times to get back to our respective hostels, but we both got back in good time.

Anyway, we plan to go to Nagoya tomorrow, see Nagoya castle and stay in a capsule inn. Hopefully it'll be a good time.

Pictures of Nikko, Ghibli and Kamakura

Afternoon - Day 1

This afternoon I went down to the Sensō-ji Temple in Asakusa. It was a very nice (although slightly tourist oriented) area. The street leading up to the shrine was lined with fake cherry blossoms - they still looked nice and added to the atmosphere. It was quite busy in the shopping area, but a little less packed in the shrine area. I visited the temple building and put in an offering (for ritual's sake) then toured the surrounding area.

On the main streets surrounding there were plenty of shops and restaurants, I stopped at a Starbucks and got a "Grande Matcha Frappicino Blended Cream", it was pretty good. There is a covered "street" nearby Sensō-ji lined with shops, I took a walk down there and decided to go back to the subway station and take the next train to Shibuya.

I arrived at Shibuya Stn, checked my map and proceeded to the Hachiko exit, the station itself wasn't that busy, but outside was something else. I took a few pictures and wandered around for a while, looking for the statue of Hachiko - took me about 10 minutes of searching (... I know its easy to find - but you have to know where you are in relation to a map, lol). Took some pictures of the statue then headed back to Khaosan.

I plan to take a break for a couple hours - then maybe I'll head over to Akihabara for the evening.

Afternoon photos here
Quick video of the shopping arcade leading up to the temple here.