ZOMG JAPAN!
ZOMG POSTING TO LIVEJOURNAL. I'm not sure which of those is more of a big deal! hahaha
Kinda long, so it gets a cut...
10 July 2009
Long flights are so boring. I'd forgotten. Hahaha. Made it safely though. Got totally lost trying to find our hotel. We were looking at a map when these 5 Japanese business men came up and started to help us. They barely spoke English, but a few minutes later, they had declared themselves our guides and were walking us through the streets. So friendly, it was great. :)
Then pretty much went straight to sleep.
11 July 2009
Crazy, hectic day in Osaka. Maiko met us at about 10am this morning, and we headed out into the city.
First to Osaka castle, which was great, particularly for me. Osaka castle was built by Taiko, Hideyoshi, in about the 17th century or so... And before I came to Japan I was reading a book called Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa. So it's awesome to come to Japan and see directly some of the effect he had on the nation, as well as statues of him and stuff like that. Very cool.
Afterwards, we went and had lunch in one of the older parts of Tokyo, near this big tower and walked around a bit. That area of Osaka has this weird local deity called Billiken, which looks a little bit like a seated monkey. You rub his feet for good luck. And basically all of the restaurants in the area have a statue of him outside on the street, so there are a heap of these Billiken statues all over the place, some of them pretty large.
Then after lunch we walked through the city for a while, back to the hotel, where we met up with another homestay student and his girlfriend. Went out for dinner, for traditional Osaka pancake called an okonomiyaki, which is kinda like an omelette. They half cook it on a hotplate on the table, which is kinda fun. We also had some other really nice but fairly common dishes, like fried, thin sliced tofu, with shallots. Delicious. Then the five of us headed off to...Karaoke! Alternated between Japanese and English songs. So much fun. I kinda wish they had some Japanese songs with the words written in our alphabet though, so I could have sung one. Or rather, mangled one badly. Lol
Then we headed up Shinsaibashi Rd to a place with Japanese photo booths (the ones where you take the photos and then put little pictures and stuff on them). They were so crazy. So much fancier than the ones in Australia. For example, after you’d finished, while you were waiting for it to print, you could also get the machine to send the pictures via infrared to your mobile phone, so you got a digital copy as well as the stickers. Awesome.
And then back to the hotel for some much deserved rest. :)
12 July 2009
Tokyo! Crazy, crazy place. Had a bit of a crappy morning... Up very early after going to sleep fairly late, so we were both pretty tired... And mum was worried about meeting Hiromi, another student. And when mum stresses, she gets a bit daft and pisses me off.
Anyways... Met Hiromi, and headed to our hotel, or rather ryokan. It is traditional, and fantastic. Rice paper walls, tatami mats, futons for beds. And access to a Japanese garden out the back. Really cool, and so strange to find such a traditional place in the middle of Tokyo. Shortly after checking in, Azusa met us as well and we went to have lunch. Cold soba noodle soup, which sounds weird but was really nice and refreshing given that it was pretty warm.
Then we headed off on the subway to the place where Tokyo government is. The government buildings are huge twin skyscrapers, with observation towers at the top... You can go to the 43rd floor and look out over the city.
And then afterwards we went to harajuku... Such a weird, awesome, wacky place, filled with weird, awesome, wacky people. I just cannot describe it. Almost everyone there was younger than me, and way, way cooler than I could ever hope to be. So busy and exciting and fun.
Hiromi left for a concert and Tokako met us. And we walked to the shopping district, had a look at crazy Japanese electronics stores, and a big department store. Then Azusa had to leave too, because she lives in Kawasaki (no relation to the motorcycles), about 2 hours away. So the three of us had dinner. This time, the Tokyo pancake monjayashi, which is really strange. They bring it out as a liquid with the contents in it. You scoop out the contents and cook it (leaving the liquid in the bowl. Then, once it’s cooked, you make a little crater on the hotplate, and pour the liquid into it. The liquid is really stick and gooey, so it makes a really elastic, stickey pancake thing. I quite liked it, but it was pretty strange.
After dinner, headed back to the ryokan for tea, and then bed. Big day.
13 July 2009
Second day in Tokyo. First thing in the morning we went to Asukasa, where there is a very famous buddhist temple, and a lot of tourist shops and so on. Lots of tourists too, which is kinda nice... Because we've been with Japanese guides (so to speak), we've gone to places where there aren't any westerners at all...
After the temple, we took the subway to Ueno, where there is a huge park and lots of museums, and even a zoo, although the zoo was closed. And then we walked through a market and had coffee. Then we caught the train to the electronics district - hundreds of electronics stores. Very exciting.
Then we walked through a district selling musical instruments, and one selling used books, unfortunately all in Japanese. And then we had lunch and came back to the ryokan. By 2pm I was feeling pretty exhausted, and was starting to wonder how I was going to survive 4 more days. hahaha.
Had tea and a look at the maps and stuff. Then mum wanted to rest a bit, so I decided to go out without her.
Subway to Ikebukuro, then wandered idly down the street towards Sunshine 60, a huge building with a shopping centre, observatory, restaurants, aquarium and a weird theme park called "Namco Namjatown".
Bought a toy in a studio Ghibli shop, but couldn't be bothered with any of the attractions, and everything was in Japanese with no English... Very confusing...
On my way back, I found a Neon Genesis Evangelion shop. So cool. But everything was too big or expensive, so I didn't buy anything.
Had coffee, then caught the subway back.
Did some ordinary stuff like checking my email, and then we headed back out into the night to search for dinner. Walked down to the Tokyo Dome, where there is a weird theme park/shopping centre/hotel/sporting venue... Kinda cool, but very touristy - lots of very expensive, non-Japanese food... So kept walking, and ended up having sushi at a kind of sushi train. But much better sushi than at home, and about 20 different varieties of fish, if not more.
After dinner, we'd had enough walking, so headed back to the ryokan to rest and sleep. Off to Kyoto in the morning.
14 July 2009
First day in Kyoto. Got up very early and caught the Shinkansen. We already had a ticket which made it much easier. Got into Kyoto no problems, and got a bus to where our ryokan is. Was kinda expecting to have problems finding it, but it was really simple. And very good timing, as Hiromi got there about 15 minutes after us.
Sat in the lobby for a bit, then out into the city. Very long bus ride to our first destination of the day, Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion). One of the most famous temples in japan, the main pavilion is coated in gold. Pretty cool.
Then we walked down the road to a zen temple, Ryoanji Temple, where there is a famous zen rock garden. The rock garden has 14 stones, set in gravel and arranged such that all 14 stones are never visible all at once, from any side. Well, from the ground... I guess they are from above. lol
We had lunch there, in a little building in the temple grounds. Very traditional, it served a vegetarian meal like the one the monks regularly eat.
Then we caught a train a bit further west to where there is a famous bridge and temple. The area is one of the very famous spots for the Sakura festival, but it's still pretty nice even wihout the cherry blossoms.
And the temple, Tenryuji Temple, is pretty awesome. One of the 5 main zen temples in the country apparently, and on the site of the first zen temple in Japan.
After that we had tea, and then caught the train back into the city. Hiromi had to leave, because she actually lives in Osaka, so we came back to the ryokan.
Then out again, walked around for a bit, into the centre of town, then down to an area that is supposedly very famous and busy, but apparently not tonight... lol. We did however see a geisha, or possibly a maiko (a trainee geisha). Not sure exactly how old she was, but she was fairly young, so she could have been a trainee.
15 July 2009
Second day in Kyoto. Got up fairly early, about 7, had a shower and went down for breakfast at our hotel. Then headed up to Ginkakuji, the silver pavilion temple. More zen temples! lol
Then we walked down a walking path called the "Path of Philosophy"... Not sure exactly why it’s called that, but it did pass 6 temples and 2 shrines...
Went up and had a quick look at the Kyoto Budo centre, the oldest martial arts dojo in Japan, the jumped on a bus to Kiyomizudera, which was really cool. Huge, and with buildings waaay up the mountain. Great views of the city.
Then we walked into the city for lunch at Mos Burger - a burger chain, but they have burgers on these soft, rice patties, instead of bread. Pretty cool, and tasty.
We then walked around the grounds of the imperial palace, but we couldn't go in - you have to book more than 24 hours in advance to go inside.
And then I headed over to Nijo castle, which was built by the Tokugawa shogunate, and was the site where the last shogun handed power back to the emperor. It also had a nightingale floor, which is pretty awesome.
Went back to the ryokan, then out for dinner to a place on the river. And then headed down to Kyoto station to meet John. Had some sweet delicious dessert, then walked up one of the main streets of Kyoto. There were thousands and thousands of people out in the streets for the festival - they'd closed a few streets, and those streets were basically FULL of people. Crazy.
And then back to the ryokan to sleep
16 July 2009
Up fairly early for breakfast at 7, then headed to Kyoto station for the next leg of the trip. Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka, then train to some station that started with G, cablecar up the side of the mountain, then a bus. 4 hours later, we're in Koyasan.
Koyasan is a temple town, at the top of a mountain. There are more than 100 temples in the town, and 53 of them take lodgers. So our accomodation tonight includes dinner with the monks, observing the morning devotions, and breakfast. Kind of like the "temple experience" I guess. Pretty cool. And Koyasan is pretty awesome.
Walked around a bit, checked out the huge gate that towers over the entrance to the town, and then walked through the cemetary, which is surrounded by these huge old trees (and when I say surrounded, I mean they are everywhere throughout the cemetery). Apparently there are more than 200,000 graves, including some of the characters in Taiko, which is awesome.
Had a bit of a rest before dinner, then a lady, I think possibly a nun, came and showed us to the dinner hall. Dinner was great. So nice not having to go through the menu and try to figure out what has meat and what doesn't. If anything. And very nice food. Lots of little dishes. Tempura of various vegetables and one leaf (which sounds bizarre but was quite nice), tofu made from sesame, pickles, beans, vegetables and soup. Plenty of food, and tasty.
This town kinda closes down at night a bit - full of monks, so I guess it wouldn't have much of a nightlife - so went back to the room, listened to my iPod, had a bath, and then went to bed pretty early in preparation for a 5:30 start in the morning.
17 July 2009
Last day in Japan. Quite sad, although by this point I was so exhausted I was kinda looking forward to it being over. I think next time I'll try and do about the same amount of stuff in about 1.5x as much time...
Up at 5:30 for morning devotions with the monks, which was great. So much more extravagant than I was expecting, even down to their robes. Then a very early breakfast at about 10 to 7, which was similar to dinner, and very nice.
Then walked up to the main temple complex where there is a huge pagoda and a few temples and other assorted buildings. Wanted coffee, but everything was closed, so I went to the museum while I waited for everything to open, which was pretty cool really. My favourite exhibit was this statue of one of the heavenly generals. His armour was EPIC. Like, his thigh guards turned into elephant heads at the knee, with the trunks hanging over his calves. Wasn't allowed to take photos in the museum, but I'll try to find a photo.
Had coffee, then headed over to the station, back to Osaka. Got back to Osaka pretty early, so we went back to the place we had lunch on the first day, which was conveniently near the station we arrived at.
And then back to Kansai airport for a quick dinner, a bit of last minute shopping, and the flight back to Australia.
And thats it, pretty much. I mean, there’s obviously more, but that was my trip, in a nutshell.
I took... quite a lot of photos. About 500, give or take. And thats after deleting quite a lot of them. I’ve uploaded them to facebook if you have me on that, otherwise, I will get around to putting them up on flickr, but even the shortlist of photos is gonna take a while to upload... lol
Once I have some uploaded though, I'll add a link to them on LJ. :)
Kinda long, so it gets a cut...
10 July 2009
Long flights are so boring. I'd forgotten. Hahaha. Made it safely though. Got totally lost trying to find our hotel. We were looking at a map when these 5 Japanese business men came up and started to help us. They barely spoke English, but a few minutes later, they had declared themselves our guides and were walking us through the streets. So friendly, it was great. :)
Then pretty much went straight to sleep.
11 July 2009
Crazy, hectic day in Osaka. Maiko met us at about 10am this morning, and we headed out into the city.
First to Osaka castle, which was great, particularly for me. Osaka castle was built by Taiko, Hideyoshi, in about the 17th century or so... And before I came to Japan I was reading a book called Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa. So it's awesome to come to Japan and see directly some of the effect he had on the nation, as well as statues of him and stuff like that. Very cool.
Afterwards, we went and had lunch in one of the older parts of Tokyo, near this big tower and walked around a bit. That area of Osaka has this weird local deity called Billiken, which looks a little bit like a seated monkey. You rub his feet for good luck. And basically all of the restaurants in the area have a statue of him outside on the street, so there are a heap of these Billiken statues all over the place, some of them pretty large.
Then after lunch we walked through the city for a while, back to the hotel, where we met up with another homestay student and his girlfriend. Went out for dinner, for traditional Osaka pancake called an okonomiyaki, which is kinda like an omelette. They half cook it on a hotplate on the table, which is kinda fun. We also had some other really nice but fairly common dishes, like fried, thin sliced tofu, with shallots. Delicious. Then the five of us headed off to...Karaoke! Alternated between Japanese and English songs. So much fun. I kinda wish they had some Japanese songs with the words written in our alphabet though, so I could have sung one. Or rather, mangled one badly. Lol
Then we headed up Shinsaibashi Rd to a place with Japanese photo booths (the ones where you take the photos and then put little pictures and stuff on them). They were so crazy. So much fancier than the ones in Australia. For example, after you’d finished, while you were waiting for it to print, you could also get the machine to send the pictures via infrared to your mobile phone, so you got a digital copy as well as the stickers. Awesome.
And then back to the hotel for some much deserved rest. :)
12 July 2009
Tokyo! Crazy, crazy place. Had a bit of a crappy morning... Up very early after going to sleep fairly late, so we were both pretty tired... And mum was worried about meeting Hiromi, another student. And when mum stresses, she gets a bit daft and pisses me off.
Anyways... Met Hiromi, and headed to our hotel, or rather ryokan. It is traditional, and fantastic. Rice paper walls, tatami mats, futons for beds. And access to a Japanese garden out the back. Really cool, and so strange to find such a traditional place in the middle of Tokyo. Shortly after checking in, Azusa met us as well and we went to have lunch. Cold soba noodle soup, which sounds weird but was really nice and refreshing given that it was pretty warm.
Then we headed off on the subway to the place where Tokyo government is. The government buildings are huge twin skyscrapers, with observation towers at the top... You can go to the 43rd floor and look out over the city.
And then afterwards we went to harajuku... Such a weird, awesome, wacky place, filled with weird, awesome, wacky people. I just cannot describe it. Almost everyone there was younger than me, and way, way cooler than I could ever hope to be. So busy and exciting and fun.
Hiromi left for a concert and Tokako met us. And we walked to the shopping district, had a look at crazy Japanese electronics stores, and a big department store. Then Azusa had to leave too, because she lives in Kawasaki (no relation to the motorcycles), about 2 hours away. So the three of us had dinner. This time, the Tokyo pancake monjayashi, which is really strange. They bring it out as a liquid with the contents in it. You scoop out the contents and cook it (leaving the liquid in the bowl. Then, once it’s cooked, you make a little crater on the hotplate, and pour the liquid into it. The liquid is really stick and gooey, so it makes a really elastic, stickey pancake thing. I quite liked it, but it was pretty strange.
After dinner, headed back to the ryokan for tea, and then bed. Big day.
13 July 2009
Second day in Tokyo. First thing in the morning we went to Asukasa, where there is a very famous buddhist temple, and a lot of tourist shops and so on. Lots of tourists too, which is kinda nice... Because we've been with Japanese guides (so to speak), we've gone to places where there aren't any westerners at all...
After the temple, we took the subway to Ueno, where there is a huge park and lots of museums, and even a zoo, although the zoo was closed. And then we walked through a market and had coffee. Then we caught the train to the electronics district - hundreds of electronics stores. Very exciting.
Then we walked through a district selling musical instruments, and one selling used books, unfortunately all in Japanese. And then we had lunch and came back to the ryokan. By 2pm I was feeling pretty exhausted, and was starting to wonder how I was going to survive 4 more days. hahaha.
Had tea and a look at the maps and stuff. Then mum wanted to rest a bit, so I decided to go out without her.
Subway to Ikebukuro, then wandered idly down the street towards Sunshine 60, a huge building with a shopping centre, observatory, restaurants, aquarium and a weird theme park called "Namco Namjatown".
Bought a toy in a studio Ghibli shop, but couldn't be bothered with any of the attractions, and everything was in Japanese with no English... Very confusing...
On my way back, I found a Neon Genesis Evangelion shop. So cool. But everything was too big or expensive, so I didn't buy anything.
Had coffee, then caught the subway back.
Did some ordinary stuff like checking my email, and then we headed back out into the night to search for dinner. Walked down to the Tokyo Dome, where there is a weird theme park/shopping centre/hotel/sporting venue... Kinda cool, but very touristy - lots of very expensive, non-Japanese food... So kept walking, and ended up having sushi at a kind of sushi train. But much better sushi than at home, and about 20 different varieties of fish, if not more.
After dinner, we'd had enough walking, so headed back to the ryokan to rest and sleep. Off to Kyoto in the morning.
14 July 2009
First day in Kyoto. Got up very early and caught the Shinkansen. We already had a ticket which made it much easier. Got into Kyoto no problems, and got a bus to where our ryokan is. Was kinda expecting to have problems finding it, but it was really simple. And very good timing, as Hiromi got there about 15 minutes after us.
Sat in the lobby for a bit, then out into the city. Very long bus ride to our first destination of the day, Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion). One of the most famous temples in japan, the main pavilion is coated in gold. Pretty cool.
Then we walked down the road to a zen temple, Ryoanji Temple, where there is a famous zen rock garden. The rock garden has 14 stones, set in gravel and arranged such that all 14 stones are never visible all at once, from any side. Well, from the ground... I guess they are from above. lol
We had lunch there, in a little building in the temple grounds. Very traditional, it served a vegetarian meal like the one the monks regularly eat.
Then we caught a train a bit further west to where there is a famous bridge and temple. The area is one of the very famous spots for the Sakura festival, but it's still pretty nice even wihout the cherry blossoms.
And the temple, Tenryuji Temple, is pretty awesome. One of the 5 main zen temples in the country apparently, and on the site of the first zen temple in Japan.
After that we had tea, and then caught the train back into the city. Hiromi had to leave, because she actually lives in Osaka, so we came back to the ryokan.
Then out again, walked around for a bit, into the centre of town, then down to an area that is supposedly very famous and busy, but apparently not tonight... lol. We did however see a geisha, or possibly a maiko (a trainee geisha). Not sure exactly how old she was, but she was fairly young, so she could have been a trainee.
15 July 2009
Second day in Kyoto. Got up fairly early, about 7, had a shower and went down for breakfast at our hotel. Then headed up to Ginkakuji, the silver pavilion temple. More zen temples! lol
Then we walked down a walking path called the "Path of Philosophy"... Not sure exactly why it’s called that, but it did pass 6 temples and 2 shrines...
Went up and had a quick look at the Kyoto Budo centre, the oldest martial arts dojo in Japan, the jumped on a bus to Kiyomizudera, which was really cool. Huge, and with buildings waaay up the mountain. Great views of the city.
Then we walked into the city for lunch at Mos Burger - a burger chain, but they have burgers on these soft, rice patties, instead of bread. Pretty cool, and tasty.
We then walked around the grounds of the imperial palace, but we couldn't go in - you have to book more than 24 hours in advance to go inside.
And then I headed over to Nijo castle, which was built by the Tokugawa shogunate, and was the site where the last shogun handed power back to the emperor. It also had a nightingale floor, which is pretty awesome.
Went back to the ryokan, then out for dinner to a place on the river. And then headed down to Kyoto station to meet John. Had some sweet delicious dessert, then walked up one of the main streets of Kyoto. There were thousands and thousands of people out in the streets for the festival - they'd closed a few streets, and those streets were basically FULL of people. Crazy.
And then back to the ryokan to sleep
16 July 2009
Up fairly early for breakfast at 7, then headed to Kyoto station for the next leg of the trip. Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka, then train to some station that started with G, cablecar up the side of the mountain, then a bus. 4 hours later, we're in Koyasan.
Koyasan is a temple town, at the top of a mountain. There are more than 100 temples in the town, and 53 of them take lodgers. So our accomodation tonight includes dinner with the monks, observing the morning devotions, and breakfast. Kind of like the "temple experience" I guess. Pretty cool. And Koyasan is pretty awesome.
Walked around a bit, checked out the huge gate that towers over the entrance to the town, and then walked through the cemetary, which is surrounded by these huge old trees (and when I say surrounded, I mean they are everywhere throughout the cemetery). Apparently there are more than 200,000 graves, including some of the characters in Taiko, which is awesome.
Had a bit of a rest before dinner, then a lady, I think possibly a nun, came and showed us to the dinner hall. Dinner was great. So nice not having to go through the menu and try to figure out what has meat and what doesn't. If anything. And very nice food. Lots of little dishes. Tempura of various vegetables and one leaf (which sounds bizarre but was quite nice), tofu made from sesame, pickles, beans, vegetables and soup. Plenty of food, and tasty.
This town kinda closes down at night a bit - full of monks, so I guess it wouldn't have much of a nightlife - so went back to the room, listened to my iPod, had a bath, and then went to bed pretty early in preparation for a 5:30 start in the morning.
17 July 2009
Last day in Japan. Quite sad, although by this point I was so exhausted I was kinda looking forward to it being over. I think next time I'll try and do about the same amount of stuff in about 1.5x as much time...
Up at 5:30 for morning devotions with the monks, which was great. So much more extravagant than I was expecting, even down to their robes. Then a very early breakfast at about 10 to 7, which was similar to dinner, and very nice.
Then walked up to the main temple complex where there is a huge pagoda and a few temples and other assorted buildings. Wanted coffee, but everything was closed, so I went to the museum while I waited for everything to open, which was pretty cool really. My favourite exhibit was this statue of one of the heavenly generals. His armour was EPIC. Like, his thigh guards turned into elephant heads at the knee, with the trunks hanging over his calves. Wasn't allowed to take photos in the museum, but I'll try to find a photo.
Had coffee, then headed over to the station, back to Osaka. Got back to Osaka pretty early, so we went back to the place we had lunch on the first day, which was conveniently near the station we arrived at.
And then back to Kansai airport for a quick dinner, a bit of last minute shopping, and the flight back to Australia.
And thats it, pretty much. I mean, there’s obviously more, but that was my trip, in a nutshell.
I took... quite a lot of photos. About 500, give or take. And thats after deleting quite a lot of them. I’ve uploaded them to facebook if you have me on that, otherwise, I will get around to putting them up on flickr, but even the shortlist of photos is gonna take a while to upload... lol
Once I have some uploaded though, I'll add a link to them on LJ. :)