Photos Of Summer Trip (Part 1)

I said I was gonna post up photos and well...here they are...


Here's a photo of Tokyo (Shibuya) by night...pretty much every night looked this busy...even after midnight...


Tokyo tower...yeah I did some touristy things along the way...


...and took stupid photos as well...


Hello Kitty looked hungry...


Locals of Harajuku...nuff said...


Outside the Imperial Palace, Tokyo...you can't see or go into the actual palace though...


View from the 5th station on Mt. Fuji's Kawaguchiko trail at sunrise...well...you all remember the disaster that was my Fuji experience...

Summer Tour of Japan (Part 3)

We arrived at 北九州(Kita-Kyushu) after mid-night and took a taxi to the 留学生会館 (exchange student dorms) where Liz and Nick were living. Accomodation arrangements...Kitty and Lisa stayed in Liz's room...Liz stayed in Nick's room...Eubim, Migs and me were all in Ian's room (who was travelling around Tokyo at the time I think...thanks for letting us stay at your place btw Ian..) A tight fit to say the least but...it was free accomodation so i can't complain really. So we basically got there...had showers...then crashed out for the night...

Next day...woke up half way through the afternoon...at like 1-2pm or something with no real purpose to the day. We sat around and played our PSPs for a little before deciding that we were hungry and went out for lunch at "Big Boy" - a western style family restaurant. The rest of the day was spent at the 小倉 shopping centre "Riverwalk" - really nice place thats right next to 小倉城(Kokura Castle)...we didn't visit the castle though because...well...we jus came from 大坂城 (Osaka Castle) and that's like probably the biggest castle in Japan...i think...anyway lots of walking around later and we were back at the 会館 for dinner...indoor BBQ...nice...we met some of Liz and Nick's Korean friends...and a French dude (I know his name but not sure how it's spelt so I'm not gonna bother...)...cool people...

So dinner started at around 9pm or so...ate a crap load of food (didn't pay you guys back for dinner that night...本当ごめんね m(_ _)m )...and there were drinks afterwards...lots of drinks...especially a lot of this French drink "Ricard"...nasty stuff...only 45%...and it tasted like absinthe. Suffice to say...I ended up pretty toasted as I seemed to always be losing at the drinking card games that we were playing. So that was our first real night in 小倉.

The rest of our stay in 九州 consisted of a shopping trip to 福岡 (Fukuoka)...which was followed by this huge buffet dinner at what looked like a fancy 5 star restaurant type place...complete with live flamingoes!! (didn't take photos of that dammit)...a trip to the beach...complete with rain and whale scab (hehe)...nothing compared to Australian beaches but a shit load better than the "beaches" in 北海道 (Hokkaido)...and more trips to the 小倉 city area...it wasn't so much a time where we were doing touristy crap as it was more about experiencing what life was like in 小倉...personally I prefer living in 札幌 (Sapporo) if it wasn't for the fact that I'm paying like $300/mth on rent...while the folks down in 小倉 are paying like $90/mth!! And so...this is where our summer tour as a J4 group ended...Liz, Nick, Kitty and Lisa were off to Sth Korea soon whilst Eubs and Migs returned to 岐阜 (Gifu)...with me tagging along as well..

And so the 3 of us heading back to 本州 (Honshu)...we took an overnight ferry from 北九州 to 大坂...and spent the day at 大坂 again...more specifically....at Den Den town nerding it up at the various toy and game stores. This was my 4th trip to Den Den town!! It's not as big as 秋葉原 (Akihabara) in 東京 (Tokyo) but the stuff there is more varied...and cheaper as well...and did mention how dirty 大坂 was/is??...it's really dirty...at least when compared to other Japanese cities...compared to Sydney I'd say...it'd be about as dirty as Chinatown and Cabramatta is dirty...smells like Cabramatta as well. And there are a lot of homeless people in 大坂...each one wheeling this huge trolley around with cardboard boxes that they set up at night as their means of accomodation.

So we left 大坂 around 7-8pm...and a 3hr train ride later...we were at 岐阜. Ahh 岐阜...田舎 (inaka..meaning country town). Keiko wasn't kidding in her description of where the uni was positioned...rice paddy fields all around and in the middle of it all...岐阜大学...hehe...although in all honesty...its not as 田舎 as I've been lead to believe...I mean 新岐阜 resembles a proper city area...and there are restaurants, supermarkets and shopping areas within biking distances of the uni...plus from 岐阜 station its only 2omins until you reach 名古屋 (Nagoya)...

Anyway...so I end up staying in 岐阜 for around 2 1/2 weeks...at the 留学生会館 Eubs and Migs are living in...first week was in Eubs' room...then when Kaye arrived from Hong Kong...I moved to Migs' room. Anyway...I can't really recall in order the things that happened but life in 岐阜 pretty much consisted of going to Masa (closest shopping area), MallEra (bigger shopping area but a little further) and 新岐阜 (the area that resembles a city and where the train station is at..) Life in 岐阜 is relaxing to say the least. Then there were our many trips to 名古屋.

Ahh 名古屋...in my opinion...an awesome city to live in...the shopping is plentyful...the clubs are happening...and the talent is perhaps the best in Japan...and I should know...as I've travelled a fair bit during the last few weeks...hehe...Once again...my time spent in 岐阜/名古屋 wasn't about doing the touristy crap that I was doing before...it was experiencing the lifestyle of the area and I must say...me likey very much...

During that time though...we had one more pass left on our seishun 18 kippu (I'm not gonna bother explaining what that is...) and so decided to take a day trip to 京都 (Kyoto). 京都 round 2 was more a shopping/exploring trip rather than a temple hopping trip...plus it also doubled as a recon mission for Eubs for when Kaye arrived. So we walk around...looked at the various shopping areas...made our way to the Imperial Palace (at least I think thats where we were...at least the garden area of the palace...didn't see the actual thing though)...and I ended up buying a Perfect Grade Evangelion model whilst there...￥7000...a bargain considering they were selling the same thing at Toys R Us for ￥16,000...so I have jus reached my pinnacle of nerdiness...

Weekend nights were mostly spent in 名古屋...drinking at the Hub...a place that sells mango beer!! and "stairway to heavens" (which consisted of some sort of fruit ice...and absinthe..again with the absinthe)...and clubbing at ID bar...ID bar...a 6vl club that on Sat nights...has different music on each floor...the 1st floor being trance music!!..ahh trance...久しぶりだね...although the way the Japanese dance to it is quite funny/daggy/amusing...￥3000 entry...4 free drinks!! (although slightly watered down) it was great though for some odd reason...the place closes at 2am!! What the hell?? One of the most happening clubs in 名古屋 and it closes at 2am???...first time we went there (jus me and Migs) we didnt know that it closed so early...hence we weren't prepared...we couldn't get back to 岐阜 because the trains stop at around 12am and don't start up till around 6am...so what did we do?? Why we walked to 名古屋城 (Nagoya Castle) of course and chilled there for a while until the trains started again...never actually went inside 名古屋城 but it looked real nice from the outside during sunrise...the 2nd time we went to ID (on a Fri night (15th)...where there was only hip hop and reggae music...much to my dissapointment...) it was with all of us (Eubs, Migs, Kaye and me)...we all drank at the Hub 1st (I owed Migs 2 drinks and Eubs 1 since I happened to have lost at poker the night before...I shall have my revenge Migs!!!)...then we had dinner at this Italian restaurant...then on to ID...and after ID...karaoke until like 6.30am...we booked the room until 8am but we all agreed that getting back to the 会館 asap was the best option...Saturday night was a quiet night that we spent at a local 居酒屋...not 飲み放題 but we did have a few drinks...a really nice way to end my trip anyway...

Initially...I had only planned to stay in 岐阜 for a few days...and return to 札幌 on the 3rd of Sept...then it changed to the 5th...then to the 12th...then the 15th...16th...and I finally left on the 17th via 新幹線 (bullet train) and ltd express trains...a 13hr ride all up that cost me around ￥30,000...about the same price as a plane ticket but took a lot longer...the great thing about it though is that I didn't have to book ahead of time (hence the constant change in my intended departure dates..)...to Eubs and Migs...thanks for letting me crash at your guys' place for as long as I did...should you decide to come up to the freezing north here...I'd be happy to return the favour...heh...its been real...

And so here I am...back in Sapporo...a stack of bills waiting upon my return...2mths worth of rent stuck to my door...4 new Chinese exchange students staying at our apartment block...a new Aussie/Viet guy meant to be arriving soon...the weather getting colder and semester starting next week...welcome home Matt (ただいま)

Summer Tour of Japan (part 2)

We arrived at Kyoto at around 6-7pm. The bus ride there took a few hours but it was comfortable as hell. We made our way to the youth hostel which was about a 10min walk from the main station. It felt good to be sleeping in a proper bed again!! Anyway so we checked in, dumped our bags in our rooms then went to dinner at this restaurant jus across the street. It was a relaxing night...exactly what I needed to recover my strength for our lil bike tour of Kyoto the next day.

Yes bike tour. The hostel we stayed at rented out bikes for 500 yen/day...we saved a crap load of money on transport that day. We biked all over Kyoto going from temple to temple, shrine to shrine checking out the sites. I can't remember the names of them but they were all pretty awesome (photos shall be posted up in due time). At night, we ended up in the central Kyoto area by this river than runs through the city. There were bands playing live music on the streets etc...the whole place just had this really relaxing vibe to it. A nice way to end our 1st day in Kyoto. We checked out the next day...dumped our bags off at the station lockers and proceeded to check out a few more temples and even went to this miny amusement park type place called 'eigamura' (movie village)...its where they film all those samurai dramas in Japan...it sounds a lot more interesting than it really was.

So after a hard days walking around, catching trains and buses etc (bikes really do come in handy) we made our way to Osaka (only 1/2 hr away!!)...like our 1st night in Kyoto we pretty much jus dumped our bags off, had dinner etc...another relaxing night. For our 1st day in Osaka, we checked out Namba first - the shopping/entertainment district of Osaka...its pretty big and we only really explored like 1/10th of the place. We got a lil bored quite quickly so we decided to head Osaka castle...real good touristy spot...has this huge park that surrounds the castle. Inside the castle has been turned into a museum though so there was nothing left of the original castle really. Still, its a must see if one is in Osaka. Then we made our way to "Den Den town"...Den Den town...what can I say about this place except that its a nerd's paradise!! Unfortunately by the time we got there, most of the shops were closed...so we vowed that we'd come back the next day to check out this place...

The next day (Sunday in case you've all lost track of the days) we went to the aquarium first...huge difference from Sydney's aquarium...its like 6 lvls of sea life where you start from the top of the aquarium and work your way down...it was pretty cool...another one of those touristy things one should do. Anyway..."Den Den town"...this place...although smaller than "Akihabara" in Tokyo has a lot more cool shit...we all started at the same shop (named - Super Position...like the ultimate toy/nerd shop franchise in Japan) and split up from there...this place brought out the lil nerd in me...what can I say...underneath this trance loving, drunkard beats the heart of a complete nerd who loves videogames and action figures...

Monday...our original plan was to leave Osaka today but we liked the place so much (plus accomodation was pretty cheap) that we stayed an extra night...so the plan for the day??..why Universal Studios Japan of course. Oh twas a fun day. Naturally being a theme park entry and all that was expensive but what do you expect. Anyway the cool thing abt the place is that on most rides...there are groups and singles lines...people that want to ride with their family and friends etc go the groups line...people that dont mind jus filling in the odd gaps..goes into the singles line...diference in wait time??...umm...abt a 1hr difference!! e.g. in group line...wait for the ride...over 1hr...singles line...20mins!! I love the whole collectivist group mentality of Japanese people. Favourite rides were definitely Spiderman (because it was cool and had the shortest singles line...5-10min wait!!) and Jurassic Park (because it was the only 1 resembling a real ride)...the Terminator ride was really funny though...hearing Arnold speak in a Japanese dub..seriously...we all jus cracked up...and getting funny looks from the Japanese around us. Anyway...the next day...Hiroshima...

But before that...in the morning...I made, what I had thought at the time...was my last trip to Den Den town...I apologise sincerely to everyone that had to wait for me...heh...but what can I say...it was Den Den town and there were paraphernalia that needed buying...anyway...we ended up leaving Osaka at around 12:30pm and made our way to Hiroshima via futsu (normal) train...a couple of hours and many line change overs later...we arrived at Hiroshima at night...luckily we found a hotel that had vacancies because we didnt book ahead of time. We only stayed the night and checked out the next day...dumping our bags at JR lockers once again and left to check out the Hiroshima peace park and war museum. A really somber experience. To see described in detail the aftermath of the atomic bomb drops...structures left almost exactly as they were...we all left a lil depressed...the trip to Miyajima changed that though...

Miyajima...a 10min ferry ride from Hiroshima port...is a lil island thats famous for its giant torii gate (shinto shrine gate) thats in the middle of the water...We got there around 2pm or so...it was still low tide so the gate wasn't in the water. We walked around the place, checking out the sites and looking at the various omiyage (souvenirs) available...there were deer roaming around everywhere and the place stank of deer crap...despite that though...this was perhaps one of our favourite places to have gone to during our trip...around sunset...the tide began to rise, making the giant gate look like it was floating in water (i think photos explain it a lot better than I do...which will be posted once I'm back in Sapporo)...anyway...with the sunsetting in the background, the tide rising with a light ocean breeze in the air...we didn't want to leave the place...but we had to if we wanted to make it to Kita-Kyushuu in time...where Liz and Nick live and are studying for their ICS...

(to be continued...again...)