The return

Well I have returned from Japan.

On Tuesday I decided to take an earlier train back to Tokyo.  It was a good thing I did as I was able to visit Ueno Koen again and the cherry blossoms had flowered.  It was beautiful.  The main path through the park was surrounded by the trees.  It was a nice stroll through the park that afternoon.  There were a lot of people in the park, I guess enjoying the scenery and the weather as it still sunny and warm.

On the train on the way back I was able to get a glimpse of Mt Fuji and was able to take some photos.

The next morning I had to get up early so I could get to the airport.  The flight back wasn't too bad, I mostly read my book.  The flight was a little shorter than stated which was nice and therefore got an earlier coach.

I was knackered by the time I got home.  I took about 700 photos while I was there, I will start processing them and add them to an album online.  Hopefully I will be able to complete them soon.

Hiroshima

Yesterday I took the Shinkansen to Hiroshima.  I had to change at Kobe though.  The trains do look very funny. But they get to their destination very fast and on time, not like a particular country's trains.

Once I got to Hiroshima I checked into my Hostel.  It is a very nice hostel, a little far from the centre but still in walking distance.  The room is very nice.

Afterwards I walked into the centre of Hiroshima and went to the atomic bomb memorial park and the memorial museum.　It is quite terrifying that the bomb vapourised people.  There were burn marks on the concrete ground from where someone was sitting.  They believe 120000 people died because of the bomb.  There was hardly any buildings standing afterwards.  A few have been left as a memorial.  The dome is one of them.  It is only one part of the building that it was before.

The museum explained about what happened up to the dropping of the bomb and why it was dropped.  It then explained the effects of the bomb and how it has affected the people and city since and the effects are still felt now.

In the morning, today, it rained quite a lot so I didn't do too much.  In the afternoon though it brightened up and had blue sky so I walked around Hiroshima centre and went back to the memorial park to see if I could get better pictures.

Tomorrow I am back off to Tokyo, where I will spend one night and then fly back to the UK on Wednesday.  The next time I update the blog will likely be when I have arrived in the UK.

Day 9 and 10

Well yesterday I went to Osaka.  There really wasn't much to do so I didn't stay too long.  It was half an hour train journey from Kyoto.  The main thing to see in Osaka is the castle.  It is quite an impressive castle, very beautiful grounds.  The main keep rises over everything else.  At the top you can see most of Osaka. The castle had been built, destroyed and rebuilt quite a few time over the years.

As there was not much else to see in Osaka, I had a quick look around the streets and then headed back to Kyoto.  After I got back to Kyoto I went to visit Ginkaku-ji temple.  This is generally called the silver pavilion as it is modelled from the golden pavilion but isn't gold, nor is it silver.  It is famous for its zen garden and surrounding gardens.  They were rebuilding the sand parts when I was there.

Afterwards I went out for dinner and had a very nice Japanese pancake.  It was made with something mixed with egg and then seafood added on top and is cooked on a grill in front of me.  Once one side has been cooked they then add noodles and these flakes of something and flip it to cook the other side.  Once cooked they flip it again and added mayonnaise and another sauce that tasted a bit like bbq sauce.  It was very tasty.

This morning I went to Nara.  This is another beautiful place with a very large park. There are quite a few temples in the park.  Also there are a lot of wild deer in the park, they are very tame though as they let you stroke them most of the time.

The main temple to see was Todai-ji temple.  This is the largest wooden building in Japan and houses a very large structure of Buddha.

After visiting the temple I went for a gentle stroll around the park.  I also visited Nigatsu-do from where you could see the whole of Nara from.  I then went onto Kasuga Taisha, this is a Shinto shrine.  Leading up to it and around it are loads of lanterns, these are only lit twice a year though.  The forest was a lot denser here as well.

After I returned from Nara I had a quick stroll around Kyoto again.  Tomorrow I am off to Hiroshima by Shinkansen.

Kyoto

It has been another great two days in Kyoto.

Yesterday I walked around East Kyoto.  There were a lot of temples and some of the streets were built to match what it traditionally looked like.

I walked to Kiyomizu-dera temple, on the way I walked through a cemetery. It was a very large cemetery but they didn't waste any space.  Every grave was right next to the next one.  I am guessing everyone was cremated so it doesn't take up as much space, but it does seem strange with them very tightly packed in.

I carried on up to the temple.  It is a very old site, with a temple being on there since 778 AD.  Behind the temple there are quite a few shrines, which is dedicated to the Shinto gods.  A lot of people come here to write prayers asking to be lucky in love.  Also if you drank some of the water from the fountain it was supposed to cure you of any illness or make you beautiful.  Well I am already beautiful so I didn't need to drink from the fountain.

After, I walked around through streets that were designed to mimic what it may have looked like in olden times.  It was quite interesting.  This also lead onto a park, which probably would look amazing if the cherry blossoms were out.

I then went back to my hostel as it was starting to rain, luckily I just got back before it really poured it down and it didn't stop until the next morning.  I did quickly pop out to get dinner which was some Chinese dumplings and pork rolls.

This morning I visited the International Manga museum. It was interesting with many different pieces of artwork and how manga has evolved over the years. It also had walls and walls of different series of manga, but these were all in Japanese.  They did have an English section so I had a nice relaxing morning reading manga.

This afternoon I went to the golden pavilion.  It was in a beautiful garden surrounded by a lake and the building was painted gold.  It did take some time to get there as it was a bit out of town but luckily buses ran there.

Well I am hopefully off to Osaka tomorrow.

Off to Kyoto

Yesterday I left the hostel in Tokyo and headed for Tokyo train station.  There I got on the Shinkansen to Kyoto.   It is about a 280 mile trip and only took 2 and 3 quarter hours, now why cant we do that in the UK.  The train even had nice leg room and comfy seats.  Once I got to Kyoto I went to the hostel I was staying.  My room is quite nice and I am sleeping on the floor.

After I had checked in I went out exploring the local area.  It was a bit colder than Tokyo but still as sunny.  After I had looked around for a bit I found a nice restaurant where I had a nice chicken ramen.  Kyoto is very different from Tokyo, it seems a little more laid back and a bit quieter, also not everyone is wearing a suit.

This morning I went to Nijo-jo castle. It was very different to the castles in the UK.  It had an outer moat and an inner moat, but didn't have a keep.  It had a palace where the shogun used to stay and then another building where he would meet feuding warlords.  Again it was a beautiful day with a temperature of 18 degrees.

After Nijo-jo castle I decided to go into the centre of town and go down a few of the smaller streets.  One of the side streets was a food market, with many different types of food that I had never seen before.

After I was passing through Kyoto train station and a group of junior school children came up to me and wanted to practice their English.  Their teacher was there and explained that they are going to the USA soon and wanted to practice their conversational English.  So they asked me a few questions like where do I come from and what am I visiting in Kyoto.

This afternoon I visited the Toji pagoda.  It is 5 storeys and is the tallest pagoda in Japan.  It has been destroyed by fire a few times and then rebuilt.  Inside had many statues of Buddha and his followers.

Some of the blossoms are blooming:

Well I am off to find some dinner.

Another day in Tokyo

I woke up quite early yesterday morning so I decided to go to Tsukiji fish market. It was very busy with people rushing around moving things on their carts. The main centre had thousands of stalls selling all sorts of different types of fish, shellfish and octopuses. I didn't wake up early enough to get to see the tuna auction, I would have had to be at the market by about 4.30am.

After visiting the fish market I went to Ueno Koen. It was very pretty but I bet it is even better once the cherry blossoms were out. There was one or two trees that had started to blossom so I may be lucky when I get to Kyoto. In the park there were quite a few museums. I looked around the Tokyo national museum which showed how Buddhism developed in Japan and how it affected the different pieces of artwork and fashion. For some reason there was a sculpture of Carolyn's head on display, see the picture below. After the museum I had a look around the gardens and the old tea houses. It was such a lovely sunny day as well which made it even better.

In the evening I decided to visit Shibuya. It was very very busy. Just outside the station is the famous crossing that is in movies. There are over 13 million people in Tokyo and most of them seem to be in Shibuya on a Saturday evening.  When the cars stop and the green man lights up the people move into the crossing like a swarm. It is quite extraordinary.

I then had a look around. There were many lights and TV screens, vans go around blasting out the latest Japanese pop music. There are also quite a lot of karaoke bars as well, where you could rent a room and just sing your heart out if you liked. I then went off to find a place to eat. I tried to find a restaurant from the guide book, it seemed a bit of a way off, but I found the street but it wasn't there. So I went back and found a sushi bar. I sat at the bar right in front of the chefs that made the sushi. Luckily the menu was in English and had pictures, this made it easier ordering it.  I tried quite a lot of different fish, including red tuna, flounder, red snapper and eel. They also had a fish tank at the back with a few fish in.  While I was there I guess someone ordered one of them so they got it out of the tank and cut its head off, now that is the freshest you will ever get.

Today I woke up early again so I could catch the train to Nikko.  This was about a 2 and half hour train journey outside Tokyo. Nikko is a very beautiful place with the mountains behind the town.  I went to Nikko national park which had many shrines in.  I started off at Rin-no-ji temple. They had seemed to built another building around it to renovate it which was a shame, but the inside was very ornate and colourful. I was not able to take any pictures while in any of the shrines or temples. 

After I visitedTtosho-gu, Futarasan-jinja and Taiyuin-byo. Again these were temples and I had to take off my shoes to go inside. Afterwards it decided to start to rain and the wind picked up which was a little annoying as I didn't bring my coat, there was also snow on he ground. The train journey back for some reason took 4 hours. It stopped for three quarters of an hour at one station and then didn't go all the way to the station I wanted so I had to change trains. After I went out for some dinner, I had some tempura on rice. For dessert I had this chocolate pastry which was shaped like a fish.

Tomorrow I will leave Tokyo and head off to Kyoto.

Arrival into Japan

I am now in Tokyo. It was a long 12 hour flight especially as there was little inflight entertainment. I landed in Japan at about 9am on Thursday. It was quite a smart airport. Once through immigration and customs I went to find a way into the city.

At the airport train station I was able to pick up my rail pass and reserve seats on the shinkansen so I definitely have a place to sit when travelling between cities. After I went to the ticket office to get a ticket to Kuramae, this was quite eventful as the officer didn't know much English. I was able to get a ticket and the officer told me go to platform 1 and remember to change at Oschiage. I am on the train hoping it is the correct one. It took about 45 minutes to get to Oschiage, and then onto Kuramae. Once in Kuramae it was quite easy to find the hostel.

The hostel is quite nice and the people are friendly but I have no idea what they are saying. The room is quite nice but a bit noisy from the road outside.

While at the hostel and sorting a few things before I went out exploring, a friendly Japanese man suggested some places to visit while I was in Tokyo. As one of them was just up the road I headed out. 

I headed north to Asukusa, here was Senso-Ji temple.  It was very beautiful.  Surrounded it was some gardens and leading up to it was a row of stalls selling a range of things.

I am near the river so I quickly took a look from the bridge.  On the bridge I saw this really strange statue on top of a building.  What do you thin of it?

After I went to look for a place to eat. There were quite a few places that looked good but everything was in Japanese so I didn't understand it very much.  Luckily they either had photos or plastic models of the food they served.  See the example below.  I picked what I want now to order it.  I walk in and notice that people are using the machine to the right to order the food.　I try pressing a button but it doesn't work.  I guess the waitress saw I was a bit confused so told me I need to put the money in first and then press the button for the food, again luckily the buttons had pictures on.  The waitress then showed me to my table.  It seems a lot of people dine out by themselves in Tokyo as I was sitting at table height bar.  The food then came out, at this point I don't really know what I ordered I could only see a picture, so a tray with a few dishes came out.  There was bowl of soup, I tried it but it wasn't very nice. There was also a bowl of salad so I passed on that also. The main dish was beef, beansprouts and green beans and then a bowl of rice.  the beef was very nice, it was more of a steak.  The rice was very sticky so it was very easy to eat with the chopsticks.

After the meal I went back to the hostel and fell fast asleep, I was knackered from not sleeping very much on the plane and walking around Tokyo for a bit.

Next morning I decided to go to Akhihabara.  It was a few changes on the subway.  The Tokyo subway is great it literally goes everywhere.  The only thing there are 3 different companies that own different lines so you have to make sure you have the right ticket.  Akhihabara is known for its Anime and Manga and also electronic shops. It was very colourful and a lot of shops that seemed to sell the same things.  

After Akhihabara, I went back to the hostel and found some lunch.  It was a rice ball with a filling, again I had no idea what the filling was when I bought it.  Once I got to the centre I found out it had some sort of fish roe which wasn't very nice.  Would nyone else be able to translate this:

After I tried to go to the Anime and Manga Museum near Ogikubo but once I got to Ogikubo, I realised my guide book didn't give me directions to the museum so I went back to Shinjuko.  Again this place was a bit like Akhihabara.  I looked around there for a while.  By this time it was getting close to the evening rush hour.  It did get a but busier on the subway but no where near as what i expected with people being pushed onto the train but I believe that is more on trains on a different network.  

Tonight I went to a different restaurant and again used the same system as the last with the machine so I knew more of what I was doing.  I ate a very nice pork and egg ramen.

Well I think I will be off to bed soon as I am still very tired from all the walking and it being a nine hour time difference.