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