So for our final days we checked out Akihabara multiple times and went to the Tokyo Tower. I am currently typing this final post in the Vancouver airport.
Some things I will miss from Japan are as follows:
Japanese people, Onsens, Retro video game stores, arcades, vending machines, toilets (from the future), trains, the sticker price is the price you pay at the counter, candy!
Things I won't miss:
Colin's snoring, Bram's cold, stairs, total lack of benches, lack of trash cans.
Japan was a ton of fun and I will miss it. I definitely will be returning in the future!
I will post pictures when I get home ;p.
Wednesday 25 May 2011
Tuesday 24 May 2011
There and Back Again.
It feels a bit weird that this day has come. It's not a completely bad feeling nor something that feels too good, I guess something bittersweet. It's an day that we all knew would eventually come.I can say that on one hand I feel a great sense of accomplishment that we experienced this but at the same time I also have a sense of regret for not being able to stay longer. But it'll definitely be a memory I'll keep forever.
I'll provide a brief update about our yesterday, our last day we had to explore.
As you probably read in Colin's post, we finally went to one of if not the most recognizable landmarks, Tokyo Tower. On
the way there we crossed the main office of Bandai.The tower itself was separated into two different observatories, the main one at 150m and the special one at 250m. Colin and I stayed at the main while Matt went to the special (it cost extra).
Like the CN tower back in Toronto, Tokyo Tower provided a complete 360 degree view of the city. It also had glass floor panels as well as a cafe up there.
To finish our trip, we decided to go for a final, final round of Akiba. Along the way to the train station we found the Zojijo Temple. It had alot of Jizo Statues.
And finally we have Akiba, we did some very last minute shopping. But I do believe it was a very fitting conclusion for us.
Our flight is later today, we're all packed and ready to go. So Japan, here's a final sayonara (＾▽＾)Update (from Vancouver): Forgot to do this when I wrote the post so here's my lists.
Stuff I'll miss from Japan:
Vending Machines every five metres.
Onsens to cook myself in
Shopping districts devoted for my geeky needs
The Cute mentality
Stuff I won't miss from Japan:
Being mistaken for being a resident (although I'm flattered)
STAIRS
Packing up in Japan
We're on the last legs of our journey now. We're packing our bags, and are getting ready for the long plane ride home. So my post may be brief.
Today, we went to Tokyo Tower.
Matt and Bram posing with the local mascots.
The observation deck was 150m in elevation. There was a higher deck as well at 250m, but only Matt went to that one.
We passed by a local shrine on our way back. It was filled with tiny Buddhas with hats.
Favourite things about Japan:
Friendly people
Unique people
Shrines/Temples
Japanese money
Otaku culture
Least Favourite things about Japan:
Sound of bike brakes
Not speaking Japanese/being illiterate
Finding meals that I can eat
Things we wanted to do but didn't:
Toei Movie Land
Sumo
Aquascaping gallery
Snow monkeys
Sakura blossoming
This will probably be my last post, so thanks for reading everyone, and I'll see you back in North America.
Monday 23 May 2011
Round 3 - Fight!
So yesterday....yea, you probably read Colin's post about our failed venture to see some awesome Sumo matches.We were all pumped and everything, walking for a half hour half-asleep without any food or even coffee at 6 AM. To find out all the matches scheduled for the month ended the day before.
（ ﾟ Дﾟ）
So yeaaa, we were pretty disappointed, that is until we went to Denny's for breakfast. I've been looking forward to this all week during our stay in Tokyo. Not because the food was that great but I never been to a Denny's =P
I ordered some hamburger plate with an extra bowl of rice and miso soup. Was quite good. Also coffee...with free refills (＾▽＾)
After breakfast we headed back to the hostel, where Colin and Matt got some extra sleep while I toiled with a art sketch while I was on my caffeine high.
Once they awoke, we followed up with our new plan. To go and explore Ueno Park as well as doing a third and most likely final round of Akiba.
Like the many other parks we've been to, Ueno Park is big, it crosses several city blocks.
In the middle of the park is a large pond with a Temple built in the centre of it.
Going through the park, we encountered a number of statues as well as smaller temples.
The park also have some large museums, but many were closed that day. The Museum of Nature and Science had some displays outside though which were interesting. We also found a Rocket Launcher. XD
With Ueno Park thoroughly explored, we headed back to Akiba for some more last minute shopping. We also took the opportunity to snap some more photos of the district. Here are some photos I took the yesterday and the day before.
Today we'll finally go to some of Tokyo's landmarks. Fitting for the last proper day to explore, no?....maybe not =P
Our day today
Today, we woke up at 6:00 AM to try and get tickets for sumo.
Everything was pretty closed and empty, although it was quite bright.
When we arrived, it turned out that the tournament had ended *yesterday*. So we walked back to our hostel to find something else to do.
We settled on Ueno park. It was quite scenic, and had a number of features to see.
Some turtles taking shelter on a raised piece of wood. There were a few ponds there.
There were also a number of statues in the area. This is of a Japanese prince, mounted on a horse. This was around the time that Japan was becoming more western; note the outfit he is wearing. It is very similar to a British uniform.
There was a temple nearby. It was fairly small, and strangely badly kept. We thought maybe it was only seasonal, and no one had tended it in a while.
The local science center. It is closed; everything seems to be closed for us today.
We spend the rest of the day in Akihabara. As it always seems to when we go to Akiba, it rained; though we were prepared for it this time. It was quite productive, and we got most of what we were looking for.
Sunday 22 May 2011
Akihabara Round 2
Today we went back for another go at Akihabara. I'm going to keep it brief today.
The stairs at Mandarake. The name is like Mandrake, but with an extra syllable in there.
What we didn't realize, is that it was going to rain today. We got a little wet, but we had a good time, and all came out a little poorer, but with cool stuff.
Saturday 21 May 2011
Five Different Locals
So I'm doing an evening post today, since tomorrow will be spent entirely in Akiba, I wouldn't want to spend needless time worry bout the blog ;P
Yesterday we decided to do use our Railpasses for some longer distance traveling. Our goals, Kamakura and Yokohama, both are cities located south of Tokyo next to the ocean. We first went to Kamakura in search of another giant Buddha/Diabutsu statue. However, our map reading abilities haven't improved since we overshot the much need turn and ended up at the beach.
Which was surprisingly nice after trudging in the sun for so long, the strong winds kept us cool...even if we had to look out for hawks.
After taking the scenic route, we ended up finding the large bronze Buddha statue, we were even able to go into the statue itself. The shrine around the statue also contain many significant objects but we didn't dally too long.
After Kamakura, we head to Yokohama. Due to the time, we decide to seek out the Chinatown (largest in Japan) there. Of course, it wouldn't be normal if we didn't get lost. We completely missed the district and ended up about 20 minutes away from where we want to be. Still we were able to find the Yokohama Stadium on the way back.
We finally found our way into Chinatown. Where we were greeted by the typical faux-chinese architecture you find in most Chinatowns. We ate a really nice dinner there in a restaurant that specialized in Canton-styled cuisine. The owner had amazing fluency in English despite being born and raised in Yokohama (his parents originated from Southern China).
We also found the (im)famous Kanteibyo temple which I'll have to agree completely with the critics, it was super gaudy. (ーー;)
We ended the day with walking along the coast of Yokohama through Yamashite Park, walking through the many parks as well as islands. Several statues were erected within the parks along the coast. We even got to go right near the giant Ferris Wheel in Cosmo World (it was closed though).
Now with today's busy, yesterday's successful trip to two cities got us thinking, We'll try for three locations today. Shinjuku, Harajuku and Shibuya.
First up, Shinjuku. We didn't really have any aim for Shinjuku, the other two locations we had a vague idea of what we wanted to do but, Shinjuku, not so much. We arrived like normal but just like normal we ended up in the complete opposite end of the district from where we wanted to be. We ended up in Western Shinjuku where all the government and business corporation buildings were. We also found yet another giant city park.
This main government building, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office, also had some rather interesting artistic statues...plus ladybugs.
After touring the are, we headed back east towards the stations. Once there and after a quick look at the map, we decided to try and find Kabukicho, also known as the famous red-light district. Some of you readers might recognize the name, its the local that is featured prominently in the Yakuza video games.
The two pink-red "arcs" between the large buildings is the entrance to Kabukicho.
Kabukicho is called that because of the proposed Kabuki theater that was never built there. Now the district plays host for mostly entertainment and food, or perhaps something of both. The district is full of Host Bars (both genders are common)...not sure what to think bout King Kong endorsing this one.
We also found the giant theatre in the Yakuza game...those who are familiar with anime might recognize the green wall from the third episode of Eden of the East as well.
After going through the district, we headed back to the station to head to the next district. Harajuku. This was the easiest one to do, since it really only had one major attraction there (although I guess the Sunday mobs of young cosplayers would've been fun to see). The major attraction is Meiji Park which hosts Meiji Shrine.
The shrine is dedicated Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shoken. It was they who finally reopened Japan to foreign countries during their rule in the late 19th century
With the park and shrine complete, we headed to our last destination for today, Shibuya. Of course we decided to find another JR train station that was closer instead of heading back to the original station, during the way we got lost yet again. This time completely missing the station we intended to find but instead walked the the station after it.
Shibuya is known as one of the best locations in Japan for shopping for clothes. Being who we are, it didn't really appeal to most of us. Plus the time being 4:30 pm didn't help with to be back before dark. We wander through the streets a bit, they were packed with young people. I recognized a several famous clothes stores but we ended up just going into a Book Off and Italian-cuisine restaurant. We also saw the Hachiko Statue (I think someone decided to they wanted to take a picture of their own dog with the statue, hence the tiny dog).
We got back quite tired and exhausted. But we'll be ready for the second round of Akiba
（￣ー￣）
Yesterday we decided to do use our Railpasses for some longer distance traveling. Our goals, Kamakura and Yokohama, both are cities located south of Tokyo next to the ocean. We first went to Kamakura in search of another giant Buddha/Diabutsu statue. However, our map reading abilities haven't improved since we overshot the much need turn and ended up at the beach.
Which was surprisingly nice after trudging in the sun for so long, the strong winds kept us cool...even if we had to look out for hawks.
After taking the scenic route, we ended up finding the large bronze Buddha statue, we were even able to go into the statue itself. The shrine around the statue also contain many significant objects but we didn't dally too long.
After Kamakura, we head to Yokohama. Due to the time, we decide to seek out the Chinatown (largest in Japan) there. Of course, it wouldn't be normal if we didn't get lost. We completely missed the district and ended up about 20 minutes away from where we want to be. Still we were able to find the Yokohama Stadium on the way back.
We finally found our way into Chinatown. Where we were greeted by the typical faux-chinese architecture you find in most Chinatowns. We ate a really nice dinner there in a restaurant that specialized in Canton-styled cuisine. The owner had amazing fluency in English despite being born and raised in Yokohama (his parents originated from Southern China).
We also found the (im)famous Kanteibyo temple which I'll have to agree completely with the critics, it was super gaudy. (ーー;)
We ended the day with walking along the coast of Yokohama through Yamashite Park, walking through the many parks as well as islands. Several statues were erected within the parks along the coast. We even got to go right near the giant Ferris Wheel in Cosmo World (it was closed though).
Now with today's busy, yesterday's successful trip to two cities got us thinking, We'll try for three locations today. Shinjuku, Harajuku and Shibuya.
First up, Shinjuku. We didn't really have any aim for Shinjuku, the other two locations we had a vague idea of what we wanted to do but, Shinjuku, not so much. We arrived like normal but just like normal we ended up in the complete opposite end of the district from where we wanted to be. We ended up in Western Shinjuku where all the government and business corporation buildings were. We also found yet another giant city park.
This main government building, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office, also had some rather interesting artistic statues...plus ladybugs.
After touring the are, we headed back east towards the stations. Once there and after a quick look at the map, we decided to try and find Kabukicho, also known as the famous red-light district. Some of you readers might recognize the name, its the local that is featured prominently in the Yakuza video games.
The two pink-red "arcs" between the large buildings is the entrance to Kabukicho.
Kabukicho is called that because of the proposed Kabuki theater that was never built there. Now the district plays host for mostly entertainment and food, or perhaps something of both. The district is full of Host Bars (both genders are common)...not sure what to think bout King Kong endorsing this one.
We also found the giant theatre in the Yakuza game...those who are familiar with anime might recognize the green wall from the third episode of Eden of the East as well.
After going through the district, we headed back to the station to head to the next district. Harajuku. This was the easiest one to do, since it really only had one major attraction there (although I guess the Sunday mobs of young cosplayers would've been fun to see). The major attraction is Meiji Park which hosts Meiji Shrine.
The shrine is dedicated Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shoken. It was they who finally reopened Japan to foreign countries during their rule in the late 19th century
With the park and shrine complete, we headed to our last destination for today, Shibuya. Of course we decided to find another JR train station that was closer instead of heading back to the original station, during the way we got lost yet again. This time completely missing the station we intended to find but instead walked the the station after it.
Shibuya is known as one of the best locations in Japan for shopping for clothes. Being who we are, it didn't really appeal to most of us. Plus the time being 4:30 pm didn't help with to be back before dark. We wander through the streets a bit, they were packed with young people. I recognized a several famous clothes stores but we ended up just going into a Book Off and Italian-cuisine restaurant. We also saw the Hachiko Statue (I think someone decided to they wanted to take a picture of their own dog with the statue, hence the tiny dog).
We got back quite tired and exhausted. But we'll be ready for the second round of Akiba
（￣ー￣）
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