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11 November 135 - Japan. Part 9.My final night in Japan, so this will be more general thoughts on the trip and the country than anything else, but first, a brief recap of today.
The day was spent at Joypolis, a high-tech amusement park, which was disappointing for the most part. Can't really think of anything else to say about it really Q_Q We headed back to the hotel and thought we'd spend our final night here, going it solo.
Hmm, I think i've witnessed the best hour of Japanese television yet, a really interesting interview with a supermodel. Japanese t.v. in general has been really disappointing, as I came here expecting a channel dedicated to anime, another to game shows, and another to..ah, something else; it hasn't been anything like
this.
Anyways, my credit card hadn't been maxed out yet, and I had jacket cravings, so I went back to Harajuku to witness some more of the crazy and max out the card, and I think i'm nearly there. Had my third crepe of the day [even with the RIDICULOUS amount of walking we've done, i'm sure i've gained some weight [or at least fat], with all this eating] and then explored Shinjuku for a while, where none of us had been yet, and it wasn't anything special really.
Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts...I'm just going to start ranting. I like Aoyama-Itchome a lot more than Juso or Karasuma-Oike [god I hope i've spelled those correctly]. It feels like a suburb I could live in.
If Hugo and co. thought station-to-station search was difficult, they should try their hand at the Japanese rail network. There are networks within networks, and then to further complicate things, a lot of the stations have rail lines as well as underground subway lines, and I think it's quite commendable that we haven't once got on the wrong train, or should I say, not taken a completely round-about way, as there's no real wrong train, with the multitude of options at each station. Still on the trains, they're complicated, but they run like clockwork. I've experienced one "delay" in my time, while on the train today, and that was a delay of about a minute, max. There's also a lot of little things on the trains themselves, like little LED indicators, that make it easy for travellers like us to get around [and have some idea of where we're going] easily. And who can forget the ticket machines, from that fateful first night, where we had no idea that you just choose an amount that works in a certain radius from your current station [it is a great system]. Ah, i'll give the tickets a mention too, they're "cute" for lack of a better word. We bought the JR RailPass assuming that it would get us everywhere, but we've still spent a good chunk of money getting to most places, as the pass doesn't cover any transport within the subway system, which we had to use a lot.
The fast head nods. I'm a big fan, and I think i've slowly adopted it, and notice myself using it more and more. I hope it'll stay with me, and it's probably kept me involved in a few conversations with the locals when I have no idea what they're saying. Speaking of the language, i've learnt a few key words, that i've bastardised at times, but still used correctly. Let me just list them for the heck of it [minus the accents, and probably spelt badly/wrong]:
Hai ~ Yes
So ~ I see [use in rapid succession - "so-so-so, so"
Naandé ~ What's going on/what the ["Naaaaande?!" The more incredulous your tone, the better]
Gomeno sai ~ Sorry
Samé masé ~ Excuse me
Aregato/Domo Aregato ~ Thank you
Choto/Choto-maté ~ One moment/Hang on
Honto ~ Really/Seriously [can be a question/statement depending on tone]
Ikuzo ~ Let's go ["Ikkkuuuuzzooo!"]
Sugé/Sugoy ~ Cool
Damé ~ Stop/Don't
Niku ~ Meat
Sakana ~ Fish
Yasai ~ Vegetables
Surprisingly, and stupidly, I don't know the word for "No", so the hands forming a cross has carried that point across.
I love the way the Japanese dress; men and women equally. The coats, good lord, I love the coats everyone wears here. I'm glad we came during Winter just for that reason. Such a stylish bunch, from the minimalist to the extreme, it just works. If it wasn't such a pain lugging aroung this suitcase, I would have spent a crapload more money here on all things fashion related. I'd like to think i'm there to some extent anyway.
The women, *psy*, awesome.
The food, I haven't had that difficult a time really, probably because dessert has always been an easy backup, but to be honest, Kyoto was the best place for food for moi. I also have a new found addiction to crepes that I need to kick ASAP. My other food highlight were the various sweet-bean desserty things.
Sha, Ronald and Jack; I could have done worse for three peeps to go on my first overseas-with-friends trip with. Sha's been a good room mate, given the locals of Japan an eyeful of his hairy legs, and bearings guy, Ronald's been an exaggerated, Japanese version of himself, and Jack, well, most of the quotes in these blogs have been in relation to Jack, so his strange outlook on life has given us many a reason to laugh throughout the trip. They've also been very accommodating to my vegetarianism, and it's probably held them back from going to a few restaurants they otherwise would have gone to, so thanks for putting up with that, dudes.
There's probably a LOT more i've forgotten, but I still need to shower, and then sleep, to prepare for the ~24 hours of travel that await us; *psy HARD*.
This will also be the last blog I write in god knows how long, as WoW and t.v. will take over when I get back, so thanks for reading and commenting, it's been great to get back into it.
Sayonara,
Coup-san 10 November 134 - Japan. Part 8."Stop using excuses. If you want to see it, just say it, Ron" - Chris
This will be a drunken blog, so be reasonable..
Ronald-chan's and Chris-chan's new favourite drink is the Amaretto Ginger Ale. Holy moly, Ronald's back is covered in weird rashes, from the alcohol I think O_O VERY disturbing. There's also a guy on t.v. that looks a lot like Mark Nam.
Today we discovered the gloriousness of Harajuku, and it has just made me love Tokyo even more. It was such an overload on the senses, and it's still very clearly [and will be for a while yet] ingrained into my mind. A crapload more shopping was done, and I was so close to buying numerous jackets, but pulled out, and am kind of regretting it, so I might have to find some time to ninja myself there.
The streets were just saturated, and it seems like the place to be on a Sunday, even for the locals, and the crazy outfits [cat-women, emo-women and just crazy women] I saw will keep me desensitised to normal women for quite a while. After some crepe [real chunks of cheesecake in a crepe; WOW] action, we walked it to Shibuya, and did some more window shopping before heading to our new double rooms in the same hotel [4 of us in that gigantic room was too much for me really].
Dinner, then drinks [Jack decided on some solo action in the hotel room while the three of us went out], where we all got quite drunk, and are hence in this state. We also saw the Seibu Lions winning the 7th game in the Japanese Baseball world series type thing, and might have even cheered once or twice, although the American tourists sitting near us were a real drag.
Ronald's still got a crapload of weird rashes on his back. Hmm, can't think of much more, so ciaO. 09 November 133 - Japan. Part 7."Moé! Moé! Chooo!". Or something like that, is how the little chant at the maid cafe we went to goes. It has been the highlight of Tokyo by far, and I doubt it can be topped.
Today was all Akihabara, the otaku [geeky] district of Tokyo. Actually, I don't think I can go any further without mentioning Jack's use of the blanket while sleeping, whereby his extremities [head, hands, feet] are outside of the blanket, because otherwise he feels trapped or something. "I've been doing it for the past 20 years. Try it...It's all about getting comfortable before sleeping." he says. He looks like he's wearing a ghost costume, but whatever works for the weirdo *shrugs*
Jack also got owned by Ronald in the following exchange:
"That was uncalled for. You could have stacked it." - Jack, as Ronald tried some acrobatic jump over a small stone pillar.
"You're uncalled for. Your mum stacked it." - Ronald
Ok, back on track now, after that long detour, and yeh, Akihabara is just lots of electronics, comics and games stores, so we all got a decent amount of shopping done, especially Ronald, who bought a bunch of books and what not. We then found our way to a maid cafe, one which was over a few levels, and it was packed. From the moment we entered, there were lots of high pitched voices and bright strobe lights. That shock of sights and sounds that I was expecting finally kicked in, and I loved it. There would be little performances on the stage every hour, and when food was delivered, there'd be the "moé! moé! chooo", with the accompanying gestures/dance routine, that Chris and I have now perfected. There's probably a page or two I could write about the thing, but suffice it to say, it was awesome, and I want to go again! We got photos with various maids, so stay tuned for that.
Dinner was at the posh posh posh Roppongi Hills mall, although the mall is just one part of a little city within Roppongi, with millions of restaurants, fancy boutique-like clothing stores, a cinema complex, and a Bentley dealer for god sakes! I had some nifty tempura, and then dessert was at an ice-cream place, where they plop a scoop of ice-cream on this cold stone, and then add in other toppings and then dump it in a waffle cone; YUM. I apparently have a doppelganger in San Francisco. Oh, and I was wearing my newly purchased coat, which i'm lovin'.
Clearly I haven't gone out on an all night bender, but at least it's been a satisfying day, and a damn cold night.
08 November 132 - Japan. Part 6.Well, I was hoping to be shocked by the sights and sounds of Tokyo, but all I can muster now is a look of three parts bemusement and one part disappointment. It's around 11pm now, on a Friday night in Tokyo, and we've already been in the room for over an hour, watching a dubbed version of 'Hollow Man'; what a frakn DRAG. I have more than half a mind to separate the key from the RFID card that powers the room, and just wander out into this awesome nightlife by myself, because no one else wants to. And now Ronald wants to go -_- What are we going to do? Hire a room for the two of us and sing Kumbaya? Maybe if we were still out, drunk, we could have bumped into a bunch of randoms and gone, but it's quite the pointless now.
We left Kyoto pretty much as soon as we got up, and it was a pretty long train ride to Tokyo. The bullet train was a bit underwhelming in the end, as the Kyoto-Osaka train yesterday had the fancy wooden seats and plane like fold out trays, etc. Getting to the hotel was supposed to be a nightmare, but it all went way too smoothly, and the hotel staff are really good here [Asia Center of Japan].
The hunt for food led to an Indian restaurant of all places, and even good ol' meat loving, anti-girl, asian Jack said something along the lines of, "Ah, finally a satisfying meal in Japan". I'm kind of inclined to agree, although i've had a decent amount of good food here [was impressed, with the gigantic, fallic like naan]. It was then off to Roppongi, the touristy, ex-pat area, which is a 15 minute walk or so from our hotel, and the place was buzzing, even at that twilight hour.
We walked into a random bar, ""the biggest in Tokyo", but we concluded that this was probably only space wise, as we were the only ones in there at the time. The alcohol was poured at more than a generous amount, and we were told to pay when we left [so random]. Chris got a bit paranoid that they were being too nice, what with the free popcorn [popcorn at a bar, it's a nice touch] and the free pool, so we left after a drink. Wandered into another ex-pat English bar, and spent a decent amount of time there, chugging down cheap cocktails, during the 3 hour or so window that was happy hour. The drink menu had a alcoholicity ranking of their five highest cocktails, and of course, I had to try the highest one, 'Stairway to Heaven', an Absinthe based one.
Dessert was consumed, and then in the space of about ten minutes, we were approached by about five different black people, all wanting to guide us to their own special clubs. This was of course on the way back to our hotel, because no one wanted to have a big night. I think tomorrow night, I might just go it alone if need be, because this is just meh.
I am still liking Tokyo a lot more than Osaka as of now. 07 November 131 - Japan. Part 5.A pretty tiring day today, and not as productive as the last few. As an early sidenote, i'm sitting here with ronald, reciting "hai" in different manly and womanly japanese voices; that has probably been what most of the day has been about, with sha also getting in on it quite a bit, the little knee bends and everything.
Started the day going through my acquisition of red/black bean wrapped in soft pastry type stuff from yesterday [should have really mentioned it yesterday, they were damn good, and have rejuvinated my love for beans]. More sugary goodness at 7/11 and then off to the Kyoto Internation Manga Museum. It was started just a few years ago, and it was a bit underwhelming, but i'm sure if we'd come in on a weekend, where students from some artsy university do manga portraits, we would have been a lot more impressed. Nijo Castle was next [apparently quite the famous landmark out here], where Jack took lots of photos of trees and water, and we took in some old school Japanese architecture. The wooden floors felt SO good to walk on. It might seem like a weird point, but it's what I remember most from the place, most likely because I haven't recovered from the constant barrage of pain my legs/feet have been undertaking, and neither have the others really, and we were wanting the touring of the castle grounds in that hot sun to end ASAP.
Ate some food at Kyoto Central [one hymm-pressive looking train station], and some green tea ice cream to boot, and then headed to Nippombashi/Den-Den Town. Again, there was all this literature about robots, and well, there weren't too many. Plenty of electronics stores, and we all bought some crap, but no robots >.< The ones we did see were quite expensive, but I don't want to leave here without a robot, so I might just pull the trigger the next time I see something I like. More walking, then a six level video game arcade [arcades are about the only thing that are cheaper here than in Australia at the moment], and then dinner at a ramen place [tempura veges, soba noodles, etc]. I felt we needed to keep the post-dinner dessert streak going, but we had a hard time finding something, and ended up resorting to Starbucks -_-
Tomorrow, it's off to Tokyo, so I hope to be shocked by some crazy sights and sounds.
06 November 130 - Japan. Part 4.I love Kyoto. What a great city. Great food the whole day and all cultured up.
The day started as every day has, with many varieties of japanese sweet bread from the convenience store for breakfast. We decided to walk the 4km or so to the...god damnit, i've forgotten the name of the temple [i'll add it in later]. On the way there, we made many a detour into the smorgasbord of shops and alleys that lined the main street, the highlight probably being the 100 yen store.
The temple itself was brilliant, and so many of the customs are similar [minus the dragon] to that at a hindu temple, from the washing of your hands from that grand old dragon's mouth to the incense and the giant bell ringing. And since it was a buddhist temple, the lunch we had [noodles and sake] was all vegetarian!
Did I mention that the streets in Kyoto are a lot more spacious? Well, yeh, they are, and it's just a lot more laid back and old school in general. It was a pleasant change and buffer to everyone from the hustle and bustle of Osaka, to the madness that will be Tokyo. Feeling good about ourselves after delving into some culture, we did some more shopping, and were completely tired, so we went back to the hotel for a breather, before heading out to dinner, which was again kind to me [chop suey like], along with that awesome cocktail I had; the...NOOOO, forgotten the name of that too >.< *psy HARD* Stupid alcohol, i'm blaming that for me forgetting these things. It was the something fizz [ok, editors note, i'm going with the Ishikawa Fizz], and it was lychee based. Dessert followed, and it was some damn impressive Japanese cheesecake [Leon, you would have enjoyed it].
And with that, another day has come to an end. We've been lounging around in our room, channel surfing, and 'Prison Break' seems a lot better when it's dubbed. Also caught the second half of 'Wicker Park', which I actually enjoyed.
Ah, I forgot to mention our second visit to the 100 Yen store, where Sha became scarf guy, just because it was a 100 Yen [I ended up buying one too, it's not too shabby really!]. The price won him over, and now he can't stop fondling the thing and talking about how good value it is.
05 November 129 - Japan. Part 3.It's heading up to midnight in Japan, and I find myself yet again in a hotel using the internet, this time in Kyoto. The computer seems pretty darn outdated, but the net is speed racer like.
The whole of today day was spent at Universal Studios, and it was thoroughly enjoyable, even with the ridiculous waiting times for EVERY ride. I don't know if Japan is just crowded in general [ok, stupid, it is], but there just seemed to be an unusually large number of locals at Universal Studios on a normal [unless there's some other holiday i'm missing, or it's schools-take-students-to-Universal-Studios-for-excursion day] Tuesday.
My top 5 Universal Studios rides [the book is getting to me] in descending order are:
The E.T. ride sucked majorly. One hour+ waits for nearly all rides, but they were so damn good that it was more than worth it; that's that. The evening was spent eating in Umeda in Namco City! [Japanese cakes were my dinner] I beat a Japanese person in Tekken. Twice! I was so excited after I won the first round that I wanted to take a photo, and ended up nearly losing the match, getting the crap beaten out of me, while I was fiddling around with my camera. It was a woman, but hey, she'd played a ridiculous amount of games on her data card, so that'll do me. We then said goodbye to the Plaza Osaka and hello to the Hearton in Kyoto; the move/commute was damn tiring, and coupled with the pain my legs endured at Universal Studios, tomorrow morning should be fun. Sayonara. 04 November 128 - Japan. Part 2.It was quite a productive, touristy day today. We decided early on to cut back our trip by a couple of days, as Kyoto will take a lot less time than expected [due to Chris' reconnaissance mission with 4 random women yesterday], so after a painful [due to that damn travel agent yet again >.< DIE], hour long conversation with Jetstar in Japan to change the flight to the night of the 11th, we headed off to the gigantic aquarium in Osaka [one of the world's largest, over multiple levels and what not]. The place was packed as it was a public holiday, and the atmosphere that came with that crowd [there were a multitude of audible gasps throughout] added to the overall experience, which was a good'n. Otters seem to be revered here or something o_O There was quite a lot of focus put on them, as well as the usual aquarium headliners like seals, dolphins, manta rays and sharks. As an aside, Ron's reaction after seeing a bunch of schoolgirls "wow. Wow. WOW." After that, we knocked about at the shopping centre near the aquarium, and found this cool shop dedicated to ninjas; I managed to score an impressive photo with a ninja, and will try and put that up on here soon. More wandering around and then we headed to Shinsaibashi for some late night shopping/dinner. Shinsaibashi is like a gigantor Pitt Street Mall. It is now the home to my first pricey purchase in Japan, an AWESOME looking coat, made in Morocco of all places [i'm utterly disappointed that it's so damn warm here [yeh, I thought it was going to be pretty darn cold and packed accordingly] that I might not even get to wear it >.<] We had dinner at some Japanese place, with the food being decent enough, although I had a pizza anyway -_- It was potato and mayonnaise though, so it has been japanised, Then a crepe hunt ensued, as we'd seen this place before dinner which seemed impressive, so we went back after dinner to join a long line, and then the staff suddenly started giving out these weird laminated cards, and there were a bunch of tourists in front of us that got the last of these cards. We finally ended up getting some at the other end of the giant street, and i'd say it was worth it. We've made huge strides in understanding the crazy train/subway system today, which is a huge relief, but there is still a huge feeling of helplessness when you walk into a supermarket with pretty much nothing in English. Another day of Osaka awaits us tomorrow, and then off to Kyoto. 03 November 127 - Japan. Part 1.So, here I am, sitting in the lobby of the Plaza Osaka, killing an hour before we wander out yet again into the madness of Japan; this place is quite the crazy and confusing.
I doubt i'll have time for my usual rants, so i've started jotting down a few things in a little notepad, and will just try and transcribe that, so here I go...[let me say now that these keyboards aren't easy to use >.<]
Sydney airport:
Delays because of Jack Chen's evil travel agent, who managed to book something 12 times more than needed. They didn't even let us on initially, and i'm going to be dramatic and say that we nearly didn't get on the flight.
Ah, even before the airport, the cab driver and I had a great chat about the high school education system here, and he ended up asking for my number to talk further about selective schools o_o
Jack travels light and wants a sequel already - not too sure what that means He also came up with some memorable quotes, one being...
"Just remember the one word. Flight mode." - JC
"That's two words, Jack" - me "Not if join them together" - JC Gold Coast airport:
Delays AGAIN because of that damn travel agent, and Ronald has now already been to the bathroom 4 times.
Started reading 'High Fidelity' - it's given me a headache
Jack underwent the random explosives test and laughed like a schoolgirl [a manly, Japanese schoolgirl] when being prodded
Another memorable quote from Jack [you can figure out the context]...
"Six inches? I can fit twelve inches in my mouth easily"
The flight:
Impressive food and entertainment by Jetstar - especially the selection of white music
Watched 'Casino Royale' and 'The Dark Knight'..AGAIN
Ronald's bathroom count is now 7 - and I slept a lot on the flight, so who knows many I missed
In Osaka:
The lifts smell good!
Seats on some trains rotate automatically O_O
The train system is frakn complicated
We thought Chris was dead, and finally found him after an hour or two
In the Plaza Osaka [hotel]:
I used the automatic toilet thingi today morning; WOW
Anyways, that's all for now. Comments welcome. Sayonara. |
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