Jaunt to Japan

Ok, no alliterations, at least not good ones, and I refuse to use the official Japan tourism slogan (Yokoso Japan!). It's hard to think of a good one which starts with "J". Japan Gem? Ah well. But it was a good five and a half days (not counting the first day which was spent in an SIA plane, and the last which was also spent in a plane).








There were too many good things on this trip, of which this photo collage only shows a sliver of. I would expect to upload more stuff in the next few days. But here are these for now, and a quick run through of the major places I've been to on this trip:

Day #1: Osaka/Kobe

This is the Kobe Chinatown, which is a tourist trap and about as Chinese as any tourist trap is, but offered plenty of interesting photography opportunities. I was also a little more enthusiastic and gung-ho with my camera on Day #1 too of course. The other photo is taken from Kobe Harbourland. Apparently, this was where they filmed the finale of Ultraman, but I wouldn't know since I never watched it. But, I took several pictures anyway.

Osaka Castle. No pretty cherry blossoms framing picture, I was there in the wrong season and constantly reminded that the parade of greenery would have been pink a mere month ago. You can look at the amazing architecture though. The multi-roofs are supposed to prevent ninjas from getting in easily. There is a gigantic moat around it, with little outposts. Built by Hideyoshi Toyotomi, one of the three major shoguns in history (he was eventually defeated by Tokugawa Ieyasu, another big name in history)

Shinsaibashi, downtown Osaka. As you can see, I have the most amazing luck with the weather. On one hand, the rain was pretty, on the other, it was extremely cold and I was extremely unprepared to meet it. Spent most time trying to avoid puddles and trying not to shiver.

Day #2: Nara/Kyoto

Nara Deer Park and Tōdai-ji (ji means temple). This particular temple is dedicated to the Buddha, and with the deer outside it, I am strongly induced to compare it to the deer park in India... (Isn't the dear* just cute?)

Day #2 is the day of temples. This is Kiyomizu Temple, and a Unesco World Heritage Site. The image above is of the queue for people lining up to drink from the three fountains which purport to promise wealth, academic success, or longevity. Hung around trying to decide which was which... and end up suspecting the most popular was likely 'wealth'...

*caught the pun?

Day #3 Owakudani Valley/Mt Fuji
Took a bullet train from Toyohashi to Hamamatsu, which was a stop away and then hopped back on to coach to Owakudani Valley, a volcanic area with steam spouting from the ground and characteristic black hardboiled eggs.

The first is one of my absolute fav pictures from the entire trip; the latter is the black eggs I was talking about, and they're transported to the shop in the valley bottom in a little cable-cage (see below).

Antartica much?

And, speaking of unpreparedness, I was practically frozen halfway up Mt Fuji. Even with four layers of clothing and a windbreaker, I was still nipped by frostbite and the light snow (amazing, but I was really cold), and we all huddled around the shops, gloveless and hatless, reluctant to leave the warmth. As you see, people were wearing that on Mt Fuji. I wasn't told mountaineering gear was the way to go... Anyway, the pinnacle of Mt Fuji couldn't be seen as it was a misty day.

Day #4: Kawaguchi-ko/Tokyo
We overnighted at Lake Kawaguchi, an onsen retreat spot. Nobody wanted to go into the baths with me, so I DIYed. Photos are obviously not allowed in there, simply because one would have to be a pervert and secondly, there's so much steam, it's a waste of the potential pervert's efforts. It is also my fav hotel of the trip, partly because of the onsen, which was good, and also because of this:

Cherry blossoms! In the middle of May!! And it's not Hokkaido!! I think I went mad with the camera for a while... P.S., that's the hotel I stayed at. It was a very traditional one with tatami mats and sliding doors. Contrastingly, it had the largest LCD screen of all the hotels I stayed in, and the rest were the modern kind.

And to reaffirm what an onsen is, - yes, you get in with your birthday suit, and yes I got in with said suit. It's not like on tv where they are wrapped in towels. In fact I initially wanted to wait up till 1am, where everyone was likely to be asleep and then go for it, but the more I dithered, the more I wanted to back out, so I eventually went at the very early time of 9 plus when my sister threatened to fall asleep and leave me locked outside in only a yukata.

We then headed to Shinjuku, Tokyo, where the yakuza apparently hang out at night and are supposedly identifiable by their spiffy black suits and shades. Unfortunately, just about every Japanese male office worker wears a black suit to work, so I don't see how you're suppose to differentiate them on sight. Their menacing expressions perhaps... Then, it was off to Asakusa, where we visit another temple, this one dedicated to Kannon (Guanyin). The main temple was unfortunately under renovation, but there was a religious festival on, so we hung around watching that instead.

P.S. I like the oba-san's kimono, but I guess she was shy or something...

I was kinda hoping we could go back to a hotel after that, but guess what... we had to go to Ueno for its flea market first, where the most amazing octopus tentacles were being sold... The flea market was also pretty interesting, since it stretched under the rail tracks.

Day #5 DisneySea aka Simulacra

I swear... they really know how to fake things. For instance, the "sculptures" on some of the walls are really only just paintings, but it looks real enough in photos... As for each of the themed locales... I'll leave you to wonder where in the world I am.

This is Cairo (not).
There's also a remarkably Venetian looking photo up there...

Day #6: Narita
I was in a hotel before hanging out in a mall. Hotel had the prettiest carpark I'd seen. It reminded me of the daffodil poem by Wordsworth - something about a sea of stars or some such thing.

That's all for now. Good night.