The Last 4 Days

We've spent our last 4 days in Japan taking it fairly easy and doing a bunch of shopping with a little more sight-seeing. Places of mention are the large park at Ueno where we rented a pink swan paddle boat for an afternoon drift around the lake. The park also had quite a few resident cats that were somewhat friendly, probably more so if you had food for them.

Where we're staying in Tokyo is close to Tamachi Station which is a few stops south of Tokyo Station. We use the Yamanote line to get around as it stops at all major stations and runs in a big loop. Each station has a different tune that plays when a train is arriving and when the doors are closing. We ended up doing a full loop one day and got to hear all the different tunes. The best tune goes to the station called Takadanobaba. Why? Because the tunes are the theme songs from Astro Boy! We had stupid grins on our faces when we heard it. For those that don't know, Astro Boy was born at the Ministry of Science at Takadanobaba on 7 April 2003.

We had set aside Sunday for going back to Akihabara to see the cosplayers, but it was a cold wet and windy day so I didn't hold much hope. The first hour or so we spent searching for garage model kits for PChii, again without success. Outside was still cold and wet, but there were a few cosplayers that braved the weather to show themselves off to the huge crowds. The weirdest one was a giant green and yellow bean looking thing that rode in on a bike and did some play acting with a few other random cosplayers. As the day wore on, the crowds of people got bigger. Tip for anyone that wants to check out Akiharaba, do it on a Sunday afternoon after 2pm.

Yesterday we headed to the Sega Joypolis, a big 3 floor indoor amusement park. After some confusion, due to the lack of clear English, we ended up with the a 3500 yen "passport" each. With our passports in hand, one of the attendant ladies that had been standing near us during the whole 15mins ordeal trying to figure out what was what, came up to us and handed us an English brochure!! What became clear was that you can either enter the Joypolis for 500 yen and then pay for whatever you want to do inside or you can buy a passport, which includes the entry fee and all amusement rides are free! My primary objective was to play the special Initial D arcade game that is setup using real cars on big moving platforms. We read through a whole bunch of warnings and said we were OK to go. The attendant then asked if we were going in together, which took me by surprise. Since the game uses shells of real cars, there is a passenger seat for a friend to sit in. Another thing I should mention is that there are 3 cars; Subaru WRX, Toyota Sprinter AE86 (Hachi Roku) and a Mazda RX-7. The board of rules tells us that you can not pick which car you ride in, but I had luck on my side and my first ride was in the WRX. The feel of the whole car moving around when you turn is quite bizarre at first but I eventually got the hang of it and most of all it was really fun! We came back two more times during the day and I managed to score rides in the other 2 cars :D PChii even had a go in the WRX! Funnily enough I liked the RX-7 the best. The rest of Joypolis is filled with attractions that range from gut-wrenching to spooky. We spent the whole day at Joypolis and did most of the attractions and had a blast.

Right now we're packing our suitcases, trying to make everything fit. Its a bit sad that the trip is almost over, but we're both certainly looking forward to coming back home.

Love Costs 800 Yen

Our last trip out from Tokyo was north to Sapporo in the North most island, Hokkaido. On the way there we stopped off at Yamagata for a night for no real reason. It took us 9 hours by train to get to Sapporo, and boy were we glad to get off those trains. We were only staying in Sapporo for 2 nights, so we made the most of it by hitting the town soon after arriving. Ramen Street was our first point of call as we hadn't eaten very well due to being on a train all day. When we found it, I must say it wasn't quite what I was expecting. It was a small alley with about 20 ramen shops packed into the walls, most with the cooks calling out to you as you walk past to come and eat in their store. Some had pictures of famous people in their store proudly plastered over the front of the shop. We found a place to eat, not because the food looked good, but because the lead singer one of PChii's favourite Japanese bands, B'z, had eaten there. So I guess the whole picture of a famous person thing works *shrug* I didn't care where we ate, I was starving!

The ramen store had a baseball game on the TV that we watched while we waited then ate our ramen. The ramen was good but not as good as this little place we found by accident in Shinjuku the previous week. With our tummies full to the brim we start walking around the streets, when PChii tells me that I've never won her anything. We just happen to be standing outside a SEGA Arcade, and the ground floor of these arcades are always filled with UFO Catcher things. Inside we found a small machine filled with little rabbits, two of which looked rather easy to get, or at least thats what they have you believe. Eight tries later @ 100yen a go, I had a little white rabbit holding a sakura blossom with the word "Love" on it. I felt awesome having conquered the machine and PChii knew then that I loved her. Pro tip for the guys out there, don't worry about rings and jewelery, just go win stuff from these UFO Catchers. Some more wandering of the streets found a bar with a name that just beckoned to me, Rad Sisters. Think Coyote Ugly but replace the tarty Americans with cute Japanese girls. They had a special they called a "Short Island Ice Tea" that I can highly recommend if you're ever in the area.

The next day we visited the park in the centre of Sapporo. We were a few weeks too early for the sakura to be blooming, but it would look beautiful when they do. We saw the major attractions of the centre of Sapporo which were the statues and the giant TV tower in the park and the historic Clock Tower building nearby. Lunch was next so we headed for the old Sapporo beer factory which has been converted into restaurants on the ground floor and shopping on the upper levels, with a giant shopping complex adjoining it from behind. One of the most notable places to eat while in Sapporo is at the Factory where they serve a meal called "Ghengis Khan" which is basically BBQ lamb. The lunch special is all you can eat for 2450yen in 90 minutes. Unfortunately, we were so slow we only got through the first serve but it was very tasty and filling anyway!

Next we went up the Observation Hill where you can get a good view of the city. There are supposed to be flocks of sheep and herds of cows grazing peacefully on the slopes of the hill but we didn't see a single one of either. The fields were bare :( I think we ate the last of the sheep for lunch! The view was nice and you could see the Sapporo Dome where the local baseball team, the Hokkaido Ham-Fighters, play. It's big, silver and looks a bit like the spaceship from Flight of the Navigator.

We had an early night to get ready for the 10 hour return train trip to back Tokyo @_@

Kyoto Day Trip

We wanted to see the Miyako Oodori performance while we were in Kyoto last time but they were sold out. We were coming back for the markets anyway, so we booked seats for today. The performance was preceded by an authentic tea ceremony performed by two geisha. We were served a sticky mochi treat and some tea prepared by the geisha on a special plate that we were allowed to keep. The hall itself was magnificent and we had a great view from our balcony seats. I would have loved to sit in the private tatami balcony seats but don't think we could have managed it for an hour. So we sat there in our cushy seats and as the lights dimmed, the stage screen went up, the musicians started playing and singing and as I looked across at DS, he had a big cheesy grin across his face. He hadn't been expecting much but came along because I really wanted to go and as soon as the geisha started dancing, I knew he had been won over. We couldn't understand a word and really had no idea what was going on but we had a photo book which had a basic scene by scene synopsis, in English. The play went for an hour, the sets were pretty and effective, the sound was fantastic in the theatre and the whole thing was just breathtaking. The dancing was something else too, if you want to see a good example of perfectly synchronised dancing, look no further. They were like robots, all their movements in sync but still so graceful. It really was an experience and I'd be happy to go back next year! *^_^* The Miyako Oodori runs every year for the month of April to celebrate the Cherry Blossom season.

Before the play, we went to the Toji Temple for the markets, which was nothing much more than a flea market. We had missed the best one by a week :(

Maid in Japan

Today we headed to the Tokyo Convention Centre for the 2008 Tokyo International Art Fair. We were lucky enough to be sent free tickets by the organisers which we greatly appreciated. The art fair showcased artists mainly from Japan but also a handful from America, Canada and India. The highlight for me was a chrome hammerhead shark about 80cm in length decorated with sponsor ads like a Formula 1 car. PChii's highlight was a display of ceramic lotus blossoms and leaves in a large 2m x 2m glass case. The artist told us the glass was thick and invited her to walk around on it. We saw many forms of art, however the majority was drawn/painted. We enjoyed the variety of works but there were some that were just plain disturbing. It took around 3 hours to make our way through the entire exhibition.

It was a Saturday and we had heard that the weekends are the best times to see the cosplayers in the streets of Harajuku and Akihabara. So we caught a train to Akihabara... where we spent the next 6 hours in search of cosplayers. We failed miserably. However we did visit a maid cafe for lunch which was very cute and very enjoyable.. up till the point where a group of business men sat at a table behind us and all lit up cigarettes. The cafe was small and enclosed and the smoke was awful. I would have to say that is the worst thing about Japan. So many people still smoke and places that have no smoking sections are not even worth it as they are usually just 2m away from the smoking section. Maybe one day smoking will be illegal and the world will be a better place for it.

Princess Howl's Neighbour Spirited Away from Earthsea

Today we took a train out to Mitaka to visit the Ghibli Museum. Studio Ghibli are likened to being the Disney of Japan but in my opinion Ghibli win hands down. When we arrived, there was already a line up waiting for the doors to open at 10am. Tickets for the museum need to be purchased 3 months in advance as they are always sold out. I felt slightly out of place being the only giant gaijin standing in line towering over mothers and children, however the usual stare I get from young children was absent, obviously overpowered by the excitement of visiting the museum.

We exchanged our passed for tickets, which were a 3 cell film strip, mine was from Howl's Moving Castle while PChii got Totoro. The first stop was an animation room that had cells from the various movies in one corner, a display in the centre showed a rotating giant robot from Laputa being surrounded by a flock of birds flying up into the sky. I should mention that the lighting in this room was very low and each piece on display had its own lighting to highlight how consecutive cells showed in rapid succession make animation possible. Towards the back of the room there was a large display make from figurines, it would spin for a minute then slow down to a stop to show you all the figures that make up the scene, then it would spin again, animating the scene. It was a very magical room and a fantastic way to start. Also on the first floor is a cinema that screens a special 20 minute movie that can only been seen at the museum. We managed to catch a session as we were leaving and had to sit in the isles as the theater was packed. There are 6 movies that are rotated monthly, we got to see Koro's Big Day Out.

We moved up to the second floor and walked through an incredible recreation of Hayao Miyazaki's study where the attention to detail was truly amazing. Across the walls were storyboards and sketches for many of the movies and background artwork by Kazuo Oga. Across the other side of this floor was a recreation of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I'm not quite sure what Ghibli has to do with that story so I'll have to look into that one.

The top floor was home to the gift shops and a large Catbus (no its not a bus for cats, its a cat that is a bus). This catbus was one you could play in and it was a huge hit with the kids, as the line disappeared around the corner near the gift shop. Alas both PChii and I were too big for it, so we moved outside to head up to the roof.

A spiral staircase led us up to the roof where we were greeted by a large replica of the robot from Laputa standing amongst a well kept garden. A small path behind the robot led to another garden than was under repair but a cube from Howl's Moving Castle lay partially embedded in the ground.

We had lunch at the Straw Hat cafe where the magic of the whole museum continued. I would certainly love to bring my kids here one day, as you may have noticed I used the word magical more than once, I could only imagine what it would be like for a child.

Nara & Osaka

Well, we were meant to do a lot more than we actually did today but it seems that I may have planned more than we could handle.

We started out a little later than I had planned so we could have another big breakfast to keep us fueled up. This got us to Nara about two hours late. My main aim for Nara was to see the giant Buddha, feed the shika (deer) and try some shika-senbei :) We took the bus to Todai-jinja, got off, walked across the street and were confronted by a pack of hungry deer. We bought some biscuits and fed the deer. One mission accomplished. The deer were quite happy to eat the biscuits but were reluctant to let you pat them. I tried to round some up to get a "surrounded-by-deer" photo. It was a little harder than expected as some of the deer got bored and tried elsewhere and the others got impatient and started head-butting me. I now have a decent bruise on my right thigh and was sporting a tender cheek for a time after being bitten on the behind! They also tried to eat my jacket and backpack straps.

After the biscuits were gone, we headed for the temple. Passing through the first gate (Nandai-mon) was impressive, with the two fierce guardians glaring down at us from each side. They are carved out of wood and stand about 20ft high (at a guess). Strolling through to the main gate we were accosted by more deer and more trinket vendors. Looking through the bars at the main gate showed a huge temple and it's only two-thirds it's original size!! We entered and the Buddha is HUGE! I really don't think you can really grasp it till you see it with your own eyes. Around the back of the Buddha is a post that has a hole through the base of it. Legend says if you can pass through it, you will reach enlightenment. Well, we were up for the challenge and 20 minutes in line put us in position. I was feeling nervous because if I didn't make it through, I was sure I would be laughed at for being a baka-gaijin. After taking off my backpack and jacket, I crouched down and reached both arms through, pushed off with my feet and wiggled and pulled my way through...and got through! Yay, enlightenment for me! The crowd cheered.

DS was next. Of course, he is much bigger than me, so he was more concerned. After a little more struggling, he also made it through, with more cheering and gasping from the crowd. So with the both of us on the path to enlightenment, we felt it was time to leave and get some lunch. On the way out, we were pulled aside by a group of Korean high-school boys, asking us to take a photo. We obliged, thinking that he wanted us to take a photo of him and his friends. I can only assume he had seen us go through and actually wanted a photo with us! We were happy to do so and imagined him telling his mates about the two big westerners who got through the hole! :) We were now running another half-hour late.


We left Nara for Tennoji-ku (Osaka) to have Okonomiyaki for lunch. We found the place without too much difficulty and were glad we did. The food was delicious *^_^* We ordered a little too much but it wasn't a problem finishing it up. It was now 3pm and we should have been in Osaka sight-seeing two hours previous. I still wanted to go to the castle and Japan Mint but unfortunately, DS' battery-pack ran out and we decided to head back to Tokyo and temporary-home. We were still full from our late lunch, so we just showered and hit the hay -_-

Kyoto

March 31st
Our first day in Kyoto started with a 3 hour Shinkansen ride from Tokyo. The ride was smooth and I managed to catch a couple of zzzz's. We were expecting the weather to be similar to Tokyo, given that it's around the same level, however we were sadly mistaken. It was cold, very cold, and blustery and the rain kept coming and going. It felt like Melbourne but twice as cold. We caught the shuttle bus to the hotel, put some more clothes on and went for a walk down to the Imperial Palace.

The Sakura were out in full bloom along the river we followed, it was so pretty. Once we arrived at the Palace, we had a wander around looking at the lovely gardens. We found a beautiful weeping Sakura and another clump of Sakura but it started raining again and we rushed to get back to the hotel and get warm again. We had Yakiniku for dinner, oishii! *^_^*

April 1st
The next morning we had a 1300yen buffet breakfast with all the trimmings and I tell you what, the Japanese breakfast really keeps you going all day. After paying 500yen for an all day bus pass, we left to go temple hopping. First was Kinkaku-jinja (Golden Temple) and it really is stunning seeing it IRL. The rest of the grounds were lovely but I have to wonder about the stupidity of some people. We were given a handout as we entered and I read through it, as there was some English information and I wanted to know what I was looking at. We were at the last point of interest before the tourist shops and there were two ladies and one man in front of us and they were looking around at the structure and finally one of the ladies said, "I don't know what it is, they don't have a sign up or anything"...
There was a sign but it was in Japanese. I wanted to be helpful, so I asked her if she had one of the handouts. She asked the man and I told her, pointing at the handout, that it was the Tea House. "Oh", he said, "I got one of those, I put it in my pocket." *sigh*
So they had paid 400yen and gone the whole way through not knowing what they were looking at and probably missing some points altogether.

Next was Ginkaku-jinja (Silver Temple), which was under construction...not much to look at except around 50 species of moss :) We took the Philosopher's Path down to Nazen-jinja. We were told it was a lovely walk and we were expecting it to be quiet and peaceful. Maybe it is, just not at the height of Sakura season. The path was quaint and the Sakura were beautiful but it was so crowded, you could hardly move. We didn't go into Nazen-jinja because we were running out of daylight.

The last temple for the day was Kiyomizu-dera, which I particularly wanted to visit. It's meant to float on a sea of Sakura during Spring. Unfortunately, we were still a little early. There were a few out but not what I was expecting. Still, the smell of the wood as you enter is really rich and you get a good view of Kyoto (when it's not smoggy). We then took the bus into Gion and had a wander around before dinner before heading back to the hotel for an early night.

TAF 300 Brick

Today we went to the Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF) at Tokyo Big Sight, which is like unlike anything I have ever seen. To say the venue is massive is an understatement. The area that contained the Fair would be at least the size of a football (Rugby) field, and that was just one side of one wing of the centre!

The only other anime fair I have attended was the first SupaNova in Brisbane back in 2003. No comparison can be made between the two. TAF was an assault on the senses, I had never seen so much anime in one place before, and everything was trying to get your attention. To get an idea of the size, check out the list of exhibitors and a floor map.

We arrived at Tokyo Big Sight (TBS) around 8:50am as we were meeting up with an internet friend at 9am. The entire open area in front of TBS was empty except for maybe 15 people off to one side and a bunch of event organisers yelling out something I couldn't understand. Just after 9am a line started forming, so we were near the front of the line. By the time they started leading people into the event centre, the line had completely filled the TBS foyer area and had overflowed back down the overpass. I will post a small movie later that I took of the crowd.

I took a lot of photos that can be seen in the gallery, half of which are probably booth girls (and a pair of booth boys, PChii was happy). At the end of the day we had a acquired a tonne of loot (handouts etc..) heres a look at what we got.



After a long draining day at TAF we met up with Beardedgeek at a nice little place called "300 Bar" where everything costs 300yen ($3.30AUD). You purchase tickets which you then exchange for each item you want. You get a bonus half price ticket when you buy 10. The bar was warm, which was far more welcoming than the bitter cold wet street, and small with only a handful of people. We used up all our tickets and headed off to find another place to try out. We were just moments away from giving up when we were welcomed into a bar called "Brick". Again we ended up downstairs in a small cozy bar that just oozed character. We were in for a treat when Beardedgeek ordered a drink that the new bar maid didn't know how to make, soon after she went running out the door upstairs she returned with the man that had welcomed us into the bar. The 3 of us watched intently as he created the drink without the use of any measuring aides and with stylistic precision. I highly recommend that if you're ever in Ginza to check these two places out.

A Drifting Feeling

Another traditional Japanese feast for breakfast saw us on our way back to Tokyo after a relaxing time up in the mountains. However I come away with only one small disappointment, not with the hotel, but with what I had hoped to see. For those of you that know what Initial D is, then you may know that Mt. Akina (Takumi's home mountain) is based on Mt. Haruna. All the places in the anime actually exist, and I had hoped to see some of them. However the onsen was only half way up the mountain, and a few kilometres away from the base of the winding roads used for drifting. I took some photos of the top half of the mountain when we went for a walk, so that will have to suffice.

We decided to head into Shinjuku to see the nightlife and do some shopping. Upon exiting the train station we went into a multi-level department store where we spent the next 2 hours being amazed at the range of items on offer. We found some food on the basement level and ate it while PChii tried not to have a sleeping/drunk Japanese man fall off his stool onto her.

When you tend to see night street scapes of Japan with all the bright lights, signs and people bustling, I often wondered where those pictures are taken. I now know, because I've taken some of my own.

We walked down a heavily crowded main street to a checkout OIOI (Marui), a department store well known for its loli & goth clientèle. The Japanese certainly have style but holy cow, talk about expensive! PChii said I just had to try a crepe from one of these street vendors, aparently I have Megan to blame for PChii's addiction to them. It was quite tasty, and I even took a movie of him making ours which I will post later on.

Oh, and on the way back to the train station we saw something more unusual than normal.. someone wearing a white horse head. Hey this is Japan after all.

Don't ask about the bus

Ohayou gozaimasu! After a good night's sleep, I headed back down to the open air bath before having breakfast. Breakfast was a huge Japanese buffet feast with the usual rice, miso, grilled fish as well as yoghurt, fruit, fried eggs and bread. There was also a chef cracking hundreds of eggs into cups of some white creamy stuff and pouring some brownish liquid over the top. I wasn't feeling brave enough and the rice had filled me up plenty already. Maybe tomorrow...maybe. I went to get some directions at reception, the lady I asked didn't speak English so she got one of the lads to come and "speak English". So he came and spoke Japanese X ) Oh well, I can understand directions and he drew on my map, so we're off to catch the next bus to take us there...as soon as DS comes back from the baths...

We eventually made it the Kokeshi Doll factory (http://www.usaburo.com/). The craftsmanship is exquisite. We got to see some of them at work on the dolls and there was a workshop to paint a doll but I missed it.

We bought some manju omiage on the way back and had another dip before dinner at the hotel. We had a nice relaxing massage after dinner and then a midnight dip in the onsen. It's going to be sad to leave tomorrow.

Ja ne!

Onsen and a Merry Fish

Or so DS thought. I knew there was going to be more...after all, I planned more :) When we walked into the room, all we could smell was the tatami mats *ahh* such a nice smell. We got changed into our yukata and headed down to the baths. If you've checked the hotel website, you'll see some images of the baths, and when I walked in, I was in gokuraku, heaven. I have been dying to come back to the hot springs ever since I left Japan last time. Needless to say, I was in there for a half hour (and DS slightly less) and I enjoyed myself thoroughly, alternating between the 5 baths, the sauna and a cold shower.

After the soothing onsen and DS' short blog, we took some photos of the room and headed down to dinner...which I was dubious about, having seen those photos of deluxe Japanese meals...those who know, will know. I was pleasantly surprised when we sat down to a table with fish steaming merrily away on the table, an entree of green tofu (made specially with local ingredients), a glass of a fruity Rose (which was very nice) and a platter with a couple of prawns, some strange seafood wedges, a lemon with some jelly stuff in it, some green stalky vegetable mixed with the special tofu (only a creamier version and not green this time) and something that looked like sliced tentacle ><; The attending waiter asked if we understood Japanese, the obvious answer being very little, and he sent over a nice waitress who spoke better English than we spoke Japanese. She apologised straight away in case she said anything rude and then proceeded to speak to us in a mixture of Japanese and English which we could understand just fine. She brought some water and I ordered a small vial of sake, which was smooth and very pleasant and made with the water from the waterfall in the area. DS declined to join me...I can't think why ;) That is just where it started. Next we were brought a small serve of some of the softest and meltiest sashimi I have ever had, again served with a side of the special tofu and wasabi! I have now learned the trick of wasabi...it's taken many years of eating sushi but I finally discovered it on my own...breath out though your mouth...I know you already know...I just thought you'd like to know... So next our lovely waitress served out the steamed fish. Did I mention it was a whole fish? She took all the fins and the tail off and proceeded to tell us that eating the eye and it's surrounds was good for ...I missed it, I was looking at the eye! We declined and she laughed and said people take it back for their grandpas...yikes! So we ate our fish and the mushrooms and leek it was cooked with. Again very tasty and tender. Then we had two small baby potatoes (which she called tomatoes and then corrected herself) which were stuffed with a potato/crab mix. You couldn't taste the crab so it was good :) Then we had a bowl of rice with seasonal spring vegetables (carrot, shallot and bamboo) and a side of pickled radish and a bowl of miso soup. Then she served us sticky mochi won tons filled with pork, made specially by their Chinese cook. They were a bit strange...an acquired taste. Our attentive waitress came yet again and I asked if there was more food to come, she said no and I thanked the lord! I was at my limit and she had just served us green tea to finish. So we had a lot of food and at this particular moment I am still waiting for my stomach to subside so I can go back in the onsen...maybe after another drink...

Well, I didn't get my drink but I did get back to the onsen while DS played God of War in bed. I had made the mistake of telling him to get under the covers to check the temperature to see if he needed warmer clothes to sleep in...he didn't want to get back up. So I left him there and went down to the big open air bath on the first floor basement. I thought the bath upstairs was lovely but this was a whole lot better. There were four indoor baths (one of which was ice cold for after your sauna) and one outdoor bath. As soon as you walk out, the icy air steals the breath from your lungs. Once you recover and step down into the hot water, it feels kimochii, wonderful, and you don't even notice the cold. I stayed as long as my body would let me, said goodnight to the ladies and headed back up to bed. DS was fast asleep by the time I got back, so I slipped under the giant fluffy covers on my futon and fell asleep...eventually :)

Oyasumi nasai!

P.S. I had my first melon-pan (melon flavoured bread roll thingy) today on the train up here and it was very nice. The bread was a bit like a heavier croissant and the melon flavouring was a sticky green paste and had the red azuki beans in it as well. I'm not sure I could live off it though...those anime girls are crazy!

Haruna Air

Onsen (hot springs) are sugoi, ne! It's a very nice feeling sitting in a steaming hot bath out in the cold mountain air (<10C). It's also very nice to get away from the big city and see the Japanese countryside. We're staying in a tradition Japanese style room, with tatami mats, sliding doors, windows with thick paper and a 24" LCD TV. Not much else to report, we're relaxing out to the max.

First day in Tokyo

I'm writing this on the train to Tokyo after a rather confusing train hiccup. The morning started off quite nicely with a buffet breakfast of both Japanese and Western style foods. We then caught the free shuttle bus back to the airport where we met a couple from Melbourne doing a similar trip to ourselves. Our next challenge was to get our rail passes validated, a simple enough task once you find the right counter. Thankfully PChii had taken care of everything and we got our rail passes and some tickets to catch the next train to Tokyo.. or at least we might have made it to Tokyo if we had caught the right train. We ended up at the other International Airport Terminal. Luckily we were the only baka gaijin (stupid foreigners) that caught the wrong train. We had our first experience with being talked at by Japanese cleaners on the train, telling us that this was the last stop and we had to get off. We found another ticket place and caught the train that we had planned on catching originally.

The undulating landscape is filled with tightly packed bamboo, small houses and fields that I can only assume are used for farming. As we get closer to Tokyo there are many huge high density housing buildings in the old outer suburbs.

Upon arriving at Tokyo station we changed trains and caught a train to Tamachi station, which is about a 5min walk from our apartment. The directions we were given were easy to follow and we meet up with a representative from Enplus (the business we're renting the apartment from). A quick tour of the apartment and a bunch of forms later we were in our new home for the next 3 weeks. The apartment is very modern and equipped with all the essentials like free internet, cable TV and an IP phone. The bathroom is bigger than I imagined but I'm still too tall for it (will post a pic later). The bed is comfy with a down blanket and pillows. The view from our window looks north to Tokyo where we can see the Tokyo Tower, which is only about 1km away.

We decided to go for a walk around the block, and got lost but found a great little place to have some katsudon for 550yen ($6AUD) each for a huge bowl. We found a map and made our way back to the apartment for a nap. We decided to take a trip into Akihabara for the evening to see the bright lights of Tokyo at night. I got my first taste of feeling like a sardine in a can on the train ride with so many people packed into each train car. It wasn't so bad, you just have to push your way through when you want to get off and apologise a lot.

Once at Akihabara we hadn't walked more than 20m outside the station when we saw a busker. Busker may not be the best term to describe her, but she was singing while playing the keyboard with a mini PA system and a bunch of CDs to sell. I'm regretting not taking a movie of her, but we did get a hand bill with her details on it so we can look her up when we get back. Turning our attention back to the main street, the first thing I could see was SEGA City, a 5 floor gaming maze filled with smoke and young people. I took a couple of photos till an attendant told me I wasn't allowed to. There was an arcade system that caught my eye that uses a card system you place on a table in front of you and move around to control your character or units. I saw a medieval army game using it, as well as a soccer game. But neither could quite compare to the horse racing game. 10 arcade consoles all setup in front of a huge screen that screens a race with the horse of the people at the arcades in front of it. If your horse isn't in the race, its in a field and you level it up by making it run around and eat grass.. what a great game! We also saw lots of Tekken 6 machines but no Street Fighter 4 machines :(

Softmap is a huge electronics store here in Japan. There were at least 3 in sight from the main intersection from the train station. I know a lot of things in Japan are meant to be expensive, but so far a lot of things haven't been, and the range is amazing. I found a tiny tripod for our cameras for 1100yen ($12AUD). The Softmap we went into had 7 floors, we didn't have enough time to check them all out but I intend on coming back. Next door to Softmap was the one and only McDonalds. I just had to try a McTeriyaki (sorry Stick-Arm-Neck), and it was a tasty bargain at 260yen ($2.85)! They also have a bunch of new side snack things for 100yen, I also had a chocolate pie, which was just a chocolate pastry triangle filled with chocolate - oishii! We caught the train home and I bought a warm Boss Coffee from a vending machine and had to make pop into the super market to buy some milk and cereal for breakfast. 1L of milk cost me 200yen ($2.10AUD) and a 410g box of All Bran was about 580yen! So it seems that western things in Japan are expensive.. imagine that.

Tomorrow we're heading up Mt. Haruna to the Hotel Tenbo (www.tenbo.com).

Tsukimashita

So we've arrived here in Narita and everything has gone smoothly! The 7 odd hours on the plane was quite tolerable, but the movies were terrible! We had August Rush and something with George Clooney. The return flight will have better movies apparently.

The line up for foreigners to get their fingerprints and photo taken was rather long, but still only took us 20mins, which just oozes Japanese efficiency. We went to collect our luggage and made our way to the carousel to find it completely empty! Not thinking the worst we checked the next carousel but they weren't there either. I went for a scout around and found our luggage sitting out in the middle of nowhere with a note on it up the other end of the baggage collection area.

Our next challenge was customs.. we walked up, showed our passports and walked right on through! Quite a nice way to be welcomed, I thought.

As we stepped outside the terminal we saw our first weird Japaneses thing - a smoking booth. Now why aren't these things in Australia?


We had to take a shuttle bus to get to the hotel. Now when I checked the website, it said 10 minutes to get to the hotel...well it took 20 minutes but the most disconcerting thing was the mystery tour through the dark back streets of Narita. We did arrive safely though and the men at reception spoke enough English that it wasn't a problem. The bathroom is tiny but the water is warm...and the beds are hard... but who cares, we're in JAPAN!

Anxious wait

I hope everyone had a great Easter, and everyone feels refreshed after an extra long weekend!

The bags are packed, and we're just waiting to go. We're both tired and need sleep but the anticipation of the trip is buzzing inside us both, making any hope of sleep a wishful thought.

We're getting up at 4:30am, if we can actually go to sleep, to give everything the final once over, then we'll heard around to MDS' place for our ride to the airport at 5:30am to catch our flight to Cairns at 6:30am. Once we get to Cairns, we have a few hours to kill till our Qantas flight to Tokyo boards at 12:05pm.

We've packed a bunch of electronic goodies like PSP, Laptop and music players to keep us entertained if the in-flight movies are rubbish. I hope they aren't because I don't think the batteries in my PSP will last 7 hours. Props to my little brother, Torpedo Dog for letting me borrow his 4GB memory stick for the trip.

On the home front, I spent this afternoon mowing and whipper snipping the front yard to get it looking respectable, so when I get back it'll need to be done again. Good thing I've got some more time off when we get back.

Well I had better turn off my computer, this will be its first reboot/shutdown in 62 days. Who said Windows XP wasn't stable? Watch out for our next post from JAPAN!

T-7 Days

This time next week we will be on the plane to Japan. It is a rather exciting thought bundled together with a dash of nervousness and a twist of the unknown (for me at least), PChii is an old hand at this, having been to Japan once before (10 years ago).

I've been keeping an eye on the weather in Tokyo and its going to rather cool with the average top temperature around 11°C. It will be even colder in Sapporo, on the northern most island of Japan called Hokkaido. There is even a chance I might get to see snow for the first time!

I have been receiving a few requests from work mates and friends to do various things for them while I am in the land of the rising sun. I will try and accomplish them with photographic evidence, so you will know I was thinking of you while we are having a blast on our holiday ;)

The nights leading up to our departure are going to be rather busy. Mainly because I haven't started packing yet. But I'm sure it won't take all that long...

Rough outline

So we're going to Japan on 25th March and staying for 3 weeks. We're going for the Sakura (Cherry Blossom) Festival primarily but we're also doing a few 2 days trips around the place to check things out.

We've rented an apartment in Tokyo for 3 weeks, on the top floor of a modest concrete looking building that faces the Kuwait Embassy and backs onto an elementary school. The apartment looks roomy enough, but I'm sure it'll be like a shoe-box when we actually get there.

The basic outline of the trip is in the first week we're heading inland and up Mt Haruna and staying at an onsen (hot springs) for 2 nights. The second week we're heading south to Kyoto/Nara/Osaka for 2 days to see the Sakura blooming (hopefully) and do all the touristy things and eat okonomiyaki! In the last week we're heading to Sapporo on the north island Hokkaido, where we will visit the famous ramen street and the various breweries.

In between our planned trips we hope to experience as much of what Tokyo has to offer, with special trips to Akihabara (most likely more than once), karaoke bars, yakiniku restaurants and much more!

T-20 Days

So we leave for Japan in 20 days. Its a very exciting and also worrying time, making for one heck of an emotional roller-coaster.

I've decided to try out Blogger and keep our Japan trip blog separate from my day to day blog on dshrike.org and hopefully Blogger will handle photos better than Wordpress does (which won't be hard).