Two month of Japan - JuergenS
Hello to all of you!
I am going to travel through Japan for two months, starting July 10, and hope to create a blog that can represent my experiences, at least at a basic level. I plan to do...

My first post, Greetings to everybody!
Linz, Austria
Kenrokuen Garden
Welcome to my blog!
I find it to be the perfect way of staying in touch with home and at the same time get some ideas from other travelers around the world.
Let me give you an outline of my upcoming journey through Japan:
I will start in Kyoto and stay in that area for about four weeks, experiencing one of the most famous matsuri (of festival) of all Japan, the Gion Matsuri. Most probably I will end up seeing all the major tourist attractions, but I will always keep an eye open for more hidden things, places to visit off the beaten path.
Some other places I will visit while having my home base in Kyoto are Hiroshima and Kanazawa.
After that I will move further north, to Tokyo, doing all the stuff to be done there and traveling its surroundings. This will include climbing Mt. Fuji.
I will take a week off Tokyo in mid-August and travel to the northernmost island of Japan: Hokkaido. There lies the great Daisetsuzan National Park, which I will explore for two days, followed by some time in Sapporo (great seafood around there). Don't expect updates 'till I'm back south.
At the end of August, my girlfriend will finally join me in Tokyo for the last two weeks of my, or now our, journey, which we will spend in Tokyo and Kyoto, before flying back home.
I expect this blog to be as much about culinary and food as about everything else, loving to cook myself, but lets see where this goes.
So long and stay tuned,
JuergenS
Edit: Updated the picture to one I took myself.
written by  JuergenS on June 13, 2010 from Linz, Austria
from the travel blog: Two month of Japan

Planning the trip, Countdown to lift off
Linz, Austria
My flying route
So, it’s less than two weeks to go now, and things are busy with some leftover preparations and going over the plan in order to actually reach my destination. My things are mostly packed, the weight of the pack was checked and found to be bearable and there is plenty of room for souvenirs to be brought home (requests, suggestions?).
Talking about souvenirs: Gift giving and bringing souvenirs from travels is an art in Japan and quite essential. Thus, I will be bringing some souvenirs from Austria to give away. Just gotta find a way how to pack them…
Anyway, I think the first real challenge, after surviving 14 hours of flight, will be to get from the airport to the guest house in Kyoto I will be staying at the first few weeks.
Guest Houses:
I find guest houses to be the ideal accommodation for travelers who plan to stay an extended amount of time in one area. They are cheaper than hotels, you can get in contact with the house owner and other residents easily and comfortably and while not as authentic as staying with a host family, you still can get a pretty good feeling of the lifestyle of the locals. There usually are no meals included, but where is the fun in getting served all the time when there is an exciting city outside waiting to be explored (and many many foods to try)?
This particular house I will stay at, Yurakuso (http://homepage3.nifty.com/yurakuso/), is managed by a couple having accommodated travelers of all nations for 35 years and counting.
My guess is that I will arrive there at about 3 p.m., after roughly 20 hours of travel and I expect to be pretty tired by then, so taking a stroll near the Kamogawa river and grabbing something to eat will probably be all I’ll do that day. Perhaps finding a good map of the area, too.
I have got a Japan Rail Pass for the first week in Kyoto, so expect me to travel around quite a bit in that time and not so much to visit Kyoto itself. Gotta use what you have as long as it lasts, and the thing is expensive enough with the EUR/YEN rates and all.
After this first Rail Pass I still will have one 7-day and two 14-day passes to be used later, one other for Kyoto, one for traveling to and around Tokyo as well as for my stay in Hokkaido and one for the last week before flying home to Austria.
So long and stay tuned,
JuergenS
Edit: Updated the picture to one I took myself.
written by  JuergenS on June 23, 2010 from Linz, Austria
from the travel blog: Two month of Japan

Starting a journey
Vienna, Austria
My flight
Today is the day, all that planning done (at least the planning I am willing to do in advance) and my things packed I set off to the airport at 8a.m yesterday.
The first flight took 40min from Linz to Vienna, from where my flight to Narita started.
At 1:15p.m was the take-off from Vienna. I made some notes during the 11 hour flight, which I will now reproduce:
Lunch was served with 9h15min to go above Minsk: Curry. A lesson I learned: If you have to choose between a new white shirt and a new orange shirt, wear the orange one if you eat curry. The white one won't stay that color, trust me.
Nap after lunch, woke up above Moscow.
Me after seven hours of flight
Seven hours to go, just woke up again. We crossed the Ural Mountains by then. Read a bit and watched a bit of a in-flight-movie. The selection was not bad and surprisingly up-to-date.
4,5 hours to go, above Irkutsk, it's dark outside. A snack was served: Instant ramen.
Ohropax and sleeping mask provided at least some sleep. Near-constant baby cries are hard to block off.
1,5h hours to go, slept surprisingly well, breakfast was served above Seoul.
Reached the airspace above Japan with 45min to go.
First glimpse of Japan
Stats of the aircraft I witnessed:
Speed: Between 900 and 1200+km/h
Height: Between 10000 and 12000m
40 rows, nine seats each, divided into sections of three.
I got a window seat during this flight, which has advantages and disadvantages.
+: View out of the window, this gets old after some time of just clouds however.
-: If the passengers next to you sleep, it's not easy to reach the toilett.
-: Getting your stuff from the overhead storage is hard.
We reached Narita at about 8a.m. and proceeded to check-out. Which took some time.
I got my Traveller's Cheques and my Japan Rail pass, held my first conversations in Japanese and traveled to Kyoto. More on this later.
So long and stay tuned,
JuergenS
written by  JuergenS on July 4, 2010 from Vienna, Austria
from the travel blog: Two month of Japan

Planning: Finances
Vienna, Austria
Simple Home Budget
Here I want to talk about an important part of traveling: Finances. When dealing with everything necessary to make a journey a success, nobody wants to find himself in the situation of being broke in the middle of it due to either poor planning or not keeping track of expenses. The tool I use for this issue is Simple Home Budget (link: http://www.home-budget-software.com/).
It is a lightweight tool that provides pretty much everything you need to manage your finances, be it when travelling or at home. I, for one, started using it when I found myself in the situation of planning my current journey and estimating the funding I needed. What's my current status, how will my salary suffice, what about expanses before I even start travelling? I asked myself these questions and found this tool to be ideal to answer them.
There are three categories you can divide your cash flow into: Income, Expanse and Refund. The former two should be clear, Refund negates the type of transaction you specify. Which brings me to the types, and here it gets really interesting. You can define as many types of transaction as you want or need (e.g. Car Gas, Food, Salary, Public Transit, Allowance) and assign them to a group you created beforehand (e.g. Household, School, Technology, Travelling). Each and every type can be assigned a color, which later is used in analytical graphs.
Let me give you an example:
You can define the Group "Living" and added the transaction types "Food", "Phone", "Clothes" and "Rent" as Expenses, giving them all the color red. Then you add the type "Allowance" or "Salary" as an Income with the color green. When looking at your transaction history now, you can clearly see which one dominates, just by looking at the colors. Of course the Income vs Expense vs Net Income area is pretty handy as well!
Another feature is the use of the "Reoccurring"-tab, which enables you to define periodic transactions, which means you don't have to create the transaction for paying your rent every time. Define it once and there you go.
Simple Home Budget - Overview (licensed)
The "Overview"-tab is pretty basic in the unlicensed version, showing a bar chart comparing incomes and expenses over the months, but gets really sweet once you start using the licensed version. It's about 30 bucks, available at the main site, link above. Or you can go ahead and do this: If you own a blog, do a post about the tool and get yourself a license free of charge! (Link here: http://www.home-budget-software.com/writereview).
Of course you can print every part of your finances as well, using Simple Home Budget.
Think about getting yourself a budgeting tool and try not to end up somewhere far from home without any cash, k?
written by  JuergenS on July 4, 2010 from Vienna, Austria

Reaching Yurakuso
Kyoto, Japan
Kyoto station
Having reached Narita, exchanged some money and got hold of my Japan Rail Pass, I headed off to Kyoto. Getting my ticket was easy enough, the change of trains in Shinagawa was manageable as well.
Ate my first Ekiben (station bento, see below) on the way and got a drink out of a vending machine. And yes, they are EVERYWHERE (even saw a construction site with a bit of a structure-to-be, some workers and, yes, a Coca Cola vending machine).
Ekiben - Narita
I reached Kyoto, got on a bus (flat rate 220yen) and got off at the stop specified by the owner of my first Guest House. Called him from there (Yay, my first phone call in Japan) and his wife picked me up and led me to Yurakuso.
The old couple I mentioned earlier and which is advertising on their site handed the business over to the next generation, their son and his wife (both really young) are now in charge.
The owner himself was not in but he was to pay me a visit (in order to show me around and collect the rent) later that evening. Was ushered to my room, started to unpack and took a breather. It has been 25 hours since I left my home in Austria by then.
Yurakusou
My room, front
My room, side
Kamogawa
Wanting to orientate myself, I started to explore my new neighborhood.
It is near the Kamo river (Kamogawa), a prominent river in Kyoto, and got some good oportunities for relaxing. Also, Yurakuso is near quite a number of temples and shrines as well as a street full of places for shopping and eating. Will explore those later.
<-- Oh, and I found this in the window of a local stonemason next to Mickey Mouse.
Bought something to drink and called home for everyone to know I arrived and went to sleep.
written by  JuergenS on July 5, 2010 from Kyoto, Japan

Kanazawa
Kanazawa, Japan
Kenrokuen Garden
Woke up late, nevertheless a bit tired and with a beginning headache today. Downed the litre water I bought yesterday along with some aspirin. Considered canceling my trip to Kanazawa, decided to just go for it in the end. After all, they say that a journey is the most enjoyable with a lot of spontaneity. It was already noon but I headed out. Turned out to be a mistake.
I went via the Thunderbird Special Express to Kanazawa, a trip taking about two hours. Sat next to an old couple which was quite entertaining. First of all, Kansai-ben is <3, if I may put it like that. Also I never met anyone who was impressed by literally EVERYTHING in the scenery before witnessing this woman. The husband was pretty quiet and downed one beer after another.
Well, having reached Kanazawa I decided to walk through the city instead of using public transit, which worked quite well. Was glad to have a compass at hand, however.
Omicho market entrance
My first stop was Omicho market. I love such markets and this one was no disappointment. Lots of fresh seafood, lots of fruit and lots of foodstuff.
Omicho market
Also, this was the first time I heard Japanese shout on the top of their lungs, praising their goods. The three employees of this shop topped each other with their yelling.
Bought a snack and some giant apples and was off to the next thing to see, the Nagamachi Samurai District.
Nagamachi Samurai District
This area, although with questionable authenticity of the houses, shows how the warriors of old lived. As nice as the scenery was, it didn't impress me much. The cars parked next to the classic samurai houses kinda killed the illusion.
The Kenrokuen on the other hand fulfilled my expectations, is was as beautiful as described. Labeled one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan, is got a lot of water, fascinating greenery and some statues, fitting nicely in their surroundings. Admission was 300yen, well worth it.
Here are some pictures:
Sake barrels
Near one of the entrances of the garden I found a small shrine with sake barrels stacked next to it. These are offerings to the shrine, probably due to tomorrow being Tanabata.
I didn't really have the time to visit the castle park or the castle itself in Kanazawa, but decided to go for a tip in my travel guide: A sake brewery.
Things went downhill from there. And I am not talking about a soft, gentle hill surrounded by grass, I am talking about a high and steep kind of hill, surrounded by flat concrete to fall on. Probably some stone spikes too.
Well, I didn't find the brewery and decided to go back, stopping for an hour or two in Kaga for a quick soak in one of its four onsen. Unfortunately either not all trains from Kanazawa to Kyoto stop in Kaga, or my info was false, leading to the last train from Kaga to Kyoto departing about two hours too soon, leaving me with too litte time to visit a bath. Decided to grab something to eat (turned out to be ramen) and buy some stuff in a nearby mart.
Long story short: I didn't make it the last train and had to spend the night at the station. Not IN the station, as it closed pretty soon after the last train left, but AT, meaning on a bench at the nearby bus stop.
Got a bit of sleep and took the first train back home, which departed at 5:30. Will probably change my plans a bit and stay at home tomorrow.
Spontaneity my ass.
written by  JuergenS on July 6, 2010 from Kanazawa, Japan

Preview: Eiheiji
Kyoto, Japan
Planning
I will visit the Eiheiji temple tomorrow, one of the two main temples of the Soto sect (Zen Buddhism). It consists of about 70 buildings and is well visited all year long.
As for today, I spent the day at Yurakuso bringing sleep, hydration and personal hygiene to Normal levels and relaxing.
Stay tuned,
written by  JuergenS on July 7, 2010 from Kyoto, Japan

Eiheiji
Fukui, Japan
Eiheiji gate
Made my way to Fukui today, which is on the same track as Kanazawa. Had a pretty fun conversation with the Japanese man I sat next to. Gave me opportunity to use my Japanese outside of ordering food and buying tickets. Small confidence boost *g*
Eiheiji is quite easily accessible from Fukui station by bus (a special bus is available). As I mentioned in my Preview post, it's a main temple and therefore quite big. Visitors are welcome (quite a lot of money is made this way after all) but have to abide by the same rules as those staying there for spiritual guidance or the study of Zen (e.g. no shoes inside, no provocative clothing, no shouting).
Before entering the complex itself, I took a look at the garden surrounding the temple and found a graveyard and some beautiful scenery.
Graveyard
Pond decoration
The temple was pretty much what I expected, but the tour to see the seven main buildings and halls was pretty neat.
Eiheiji hall
The four guardians of Buddha where present as well.
The Guardians of Buddha
Things to think about
The main corridor before leaving the temple was stacked with heirlooms of the temple and with pictures like this one:
On my way out I bought some special Eiheiji sweets and made my way back to Fukui. I was pretty surprised who was waiting there for me:
Raptor Jesus?
Yes, that's a Dinosaur in a white suit reading a book and holding a Lizard Skull. Apparently he advertises a local Dinosaur exhibition.
Wandered to Fuikui some time, ate Sauce Katsudon (which was mentioned in my Lonely Planet, good choice). Also, it seems there are Votes coming up in Fukui, as quite some cars like this where driving around. They have speakers proclaiming reasons to vote for their respective candidate. Gets annoying after some time.
written by  JuergenS on July 8, 2010 from Fukui, Japan

Preview: Hiroshima
Kyoto, Japan
Planning
For the next two days I will be exploring Hiroshima. While known to the world pretty much only as the target used for testing "Little Boy", it actually is an thriving and lively town. The attack killed one third of Hiroshima's inhabitants, and approximately as many in the years to follow, but the people recovered and are now as proud as one can be of their very own culture. There are lots of shopping and entertainment districts/streets and a lot to see.
But of course, the Peace Memorial Park, Museum, the Flame of Peace and the Bakudan-Dome remain the number one reasons for tourists to visit.
written by  JuergenS on July 9, 2010 from Kyoto, Japan

Hiroshima - Touching history
Hiroshima, Japan
Promenade of Peace
My two-day trip to Hiroshima started, as always, by getting on the train at Kyoto station. After arriving, I toured the station building of Hiroshima a bit (all major stations are huge, multiple storeys, lots of shops (food and other)) and then made my way to the Youth Hostel. I figured it would be a good idea to exactly know where it is and how the buses are scheduled, as the Hiroshima Youth Hostel has a curfew. The walk there from the bus stop didn't seem so long, so so uphill, on the map online, but oh well.
Got there, payed and was off again, this time to the Peace Memorial Museum, located at the south end of the Peace Memorial Park.
On my way there I took a picture that for me really brings out the nature of Japan: A small shrine surrounded by high buildings on a livley crossroad. Indeed, where the past meets the future (I heard that slogan quite often already).
Shrine between modern buildings
Walked along the Promenade of Peace and reached the museum. Admission is 50yen, audio guides are available but not really necessary if you can read English. This museum depicts the horrors of the attack as well as the way leading there and the path Hiroshima took from there on. I didn't shoot many pictures in there (it's not forbidden, just don't use a flash), they wouldn't convey the atmosphere inside anyway. There is a room with big before-after miniatures of the city, there are whole walls lined with international letters of protest, there are medical descriptions of the consequences, there are areas where walls and parts of homes where restored to show how the heat and radiation of the bomb warped, fused and destroyed everyday life. There even is a wall with a shadow eternally burned into it where a human stood at the time of the impact.
Cranes folded by Sadako Sasaki
The story of Sawako, the girl believing in the legend that folding a thousand paper cranes will bring you happiness is also there, along with some of her cranes. She didn't reach her goal and died of radiation-induced Leukemia. Her classmates, however, finished her task and the story of the thousand paper cranes became known worldwide.
What probably touched me most was the video-area where witnesses and victims give there testimonies of those days, how their bodies reacted, how they lost everything and still held on to life.
There are only very few pictures in existence of the first hours after the detonation. A photographer was at the scene, but he was only able to take fife shots and it took him 30 minutes to bring himself to do that much. After those, his vision became too clouded by tears for all the horrors he witnessed.
A-Bomb Dome
After leaving the museum I walked through the park, saw the A-Bomb Dome, a building near the point of explosion that survived the attack (even through everything combustible inside was immediately destroyed). It was preserved as a reminder.
Framed here you can see the place where the flame of peace is kept, which burn as long as there are nukes on this world.
Sight from the Museum
Sight from the A-Bomb Dome
I rung the Bell of Peace and and left.
Bell of Peace
Bell of Peace sign
It was late afternoon by then and I decided to take a look at the lively entertainment areas of Hiroshima. I strolled through the nightlife areas and arcades and ended up eating at Okonomimura, a three storey area which consists of 25 stalls selling the same thing: Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki, one of the local specialties. The food was great, but it became really really hot while sitting to the hot plate (on which they are made, teppanyaki-style), eating piping hot food still on that plate.
Oh, and I found this add. Yes, they really sell those things, about 9EUR and it is yours.
Back to the station and subsequently to the Hostel I crashed, tomorrow I will take a look at Miajima.
written by  JuergenS on July 10, 2010 from Hiroshima, Japan

Hiroshima - Miajima
Hiroshima, Japan
Floating Torii
It rained when I got up today, at least I slept quite well. Made my way to Miajima station and took the JR ferry to the island itself.
Turns out to be the site of some kind of Detective Conan event --> His voice did the introduction on the ferry and posters where everywhere to be seen.
After getting off, I saw this sign:
Deer sign
I head heard of the deer there and was eager to see some of them. Turned out to be rather easy, a 90° turn did the trick. They. Are. Everywhere.
Stag
Deer
Guy teasing deer
Oh, and this guy was teasing the deer, tapping and poking it with his umbrella. It didn't seem to mind. Watched them for a while and carried on the the main sight of this island: The floating Torii.
Itsukushima Shrine
Unfortunately the tide was already changing when I arrived, so the the shrine and temple, seeming to float at high tide, were not as impressive as on the promotional pictures, but still a nice sight.
Some even went down and walked through the mud the shrine actually stands on.
Took a look at the five-storey pagoda opposite the shrine and tried the other specialty of Hiroshima: Oysters. Even got one free ^^. They where good, wished there had been some lemon though.
Shopped for souvenirs and realized that I had still no idea what to bring back home. Suggestions?
Originally I had planned to visit the top of the local mountain, as the view from there is supposed to be great (also: more deer, some monkeys too), the weather prevented this.
Back in Hiroshima itself if confirmed something I suspected since yesterday. They love Mozart here. Proof:
Made my way back to Kyoto, using my first JRP for the last time (expires today). Will be staying at Kyoto for some time now, there is really enough to view here.
So long, and stay tuned,
written by  JuergenS on July 11, 2010 from Hiroshima, Japan

Preview: Next Week
Planning
As I said before, I will stay in Kyoto for a while now. This first week got me pretty tired, to be honest, and constantly hearing, reading and talking Japanese is straining too.
Well, this week is the Gion Matsuri anyway (starting Wednesday, lasting four days) with gigantic floats being pulled through the streets and lots of stalls left and right to try some food or your hand at traditional games. The festial actually spans the whole month of July, but those four days are the main part.
Also, I plan to do some cultural and culinary posts in the future too. Most probably there won't be a post from me everyday, but I will still keep you updated.

The Path of Philosophy and beyond
Singpost for the Path of Philosophy
Last week I decided to walk the Path of Philosophy and visit some temples and shrines on the way, before going back to Gion for the matsuri. I didn't have the time to write about this before, I will however post it with the original date of this tour.
I started off at the northern end of the Path of Philosophy, a walking trail connecting the Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion) and the Nanzen-ji.
Ginkaku-ji
So Ginkaku-ji was first. I read quite often that a visit here is more rewarding than visiting the famed Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion), but I will take a look at both.
Even through being named the Silver Pavilion, it is not actually coated with silver (the Kinkaku-ji is, in fact, coated in gold), making it a rather grey structure. The tiles of the roofs are made of lead, so that they could be melted into bullets in case of emergency.
The pavilion itself was not that spectacular to be honest, but the surrounding garden was great.
Here are some pictures:
Entrance to Ginkaku-ji
Ginkaku-ji Garden
I then proceeded to ignore the riksha guys and start the walk down the Path of Philosophy. It's dotted with surrounding temples and shrines and leads to the Nanzen-ji, a massive temple complex with many sub-temples and a famous garden.
Along the way I stopped at this shrine:
Torii
Shrine
Old shrine
It contains many statues of animals and was a beautiful sight.
Oh, and I passed this ancient kimono shop.
Sanmon
Nanzen-ji Oku-no-in
Aqueduct
Further south I reached the Nanzen-ji and was greeted by its massive sanmon (the main gate). I strolled on the premises for a while, decided not to enter the garden but go for a more hidden treasure of this temple, one which is overlooked by most visitors, the Nanzen-ji Oku-no-in.
It is a small sub-temple/shrine in the hills surrounding the main temple. It is a bit of a hike up there, along an aqueduct and through the forest, but once you have cleared the stone steps you reach a small shrine just in front of a beautiful waterfall. If one continues to climb up there is a small cave above the shrine, containing offerings and mourning tablets. The air there is thick with the smell of incense and the smoke combined with the mist form the waterfall create an unique atmosphere.
I really enjoyed it there.
After leaving I decided to walk back to Gion (public transit would of course have been easier, but I had the time, so walk it was). On my way I noticed how near I was to the Heian-shrine with its massive Torii (24m high, if the info on the flyer is correct). As mentioned before, I wasn't in a hurry, so I explored this shrine as well.
Heian-ji Torii
The buildings where pretty much what I expected, the stroll through the massive gardens was nice and cool though.
Pictures:
Heian-ji entrance
Heian-ji Garden
Why is that here?
After that I was on my way back to Gion, the Yasaka shrine and the matsuri.

Preview: Gion Matsuri
Spent the last few days exploring the area of Gion in Kyoto and the Gion Matsuri held there. Will do a post about that soon, wanted to wait till I had all the pictures I needed. The festival is over tomorrow and I am pretty tired from walking the Path of Philosophy and standing for three hours while watching the Katsura performance at Yasaka shrine, so I will relax tomorrow and do some posts.
Got lots of pictures that need some editing before I can upload them.

Gion Matsuri
Yasaka shrine
The Gion Matsuri spans the whole month of July and various events take place during this time in Kyoto. The main base for most activities is the Yasaka shrine.
Float
The floats: These are the trademark of the Gion Matsuri. Lots of floats are build every year and open for visiting in the streets. There are two types of floats, Yama and Boko, differing in weight and layout. They are up to 25m tall, from the ground to the tip of the tree in their center. The carpets they are adorned with are often very old and from all over the world. They are sometimes called moving museums for their historical value.
At night the lanterns all over them are lit, the traditional musicians take their place and play to the masses visiting.
On the morning of the 17th the floats align in an order decided by lottery, are carried or pulled through the streets of Gion by the local men. After that they return to the place they were built at and quickly disassembled, dispelling all the evil they absorbed on their way.
Chimaki
Chimaki: These are charms that are sold only during the matsuri. People buy them, hang well visible over their entrances and keep them there until they get a new one next year.
Matsuri stalls
Matsuri stalls: Probably THE characteristic element of all matsuri. Tons of stalls line the streets and the area of the shrine, selling all that special foodstuff I wanted to try and more.
I am currently working on a follow-up post about the food sold at such festivals.
Also, there were lots of these guys. They sell a ticket for 300yen with the outlook to win video games and even consoles. Of course there is all that cheap plastic stuff around as well. You buy a ticket, it's either a fluke or a win and you won't get the thing you wanted anyways. Yes, it's the type of thing young boys spend their allowance on. Seemed quite popular.
There are also masks for kids and all kinds of sparkly stuff on sale, from light sabers over kitten ears to necklaces.
The mayor streets where the stalls were where closed on the nights of the 14th, 15th and 16th, which meant lots of pedestrians, lots and lots of stalls and lots of walking.
Byobu Matsuri
The folding screen festival: A part of the Matsuri where one can get a precious glimpse inside a Japanese home. Here, the residents open their houses and put their family heirlooms on display, to be viewed by everyone interested.
The dance of the snake
Kagura: On the evening of the 16th, the Kagura are performed at the Yasaka shrine. Kagura are dances/performances depicting a story or pleasing the gods.
Before the main event started, there was the blessing of the shinsengumi (I really have no idea where they came from or there they went after the 5min ceremony and neither had the Japanese around me) and the crane dance, performed by children.
Shinsengumi?
The crane dance
The musicians
There are traditional instruments used (Flute, drums, ...) and the dancers/actors are adorned with colorful and rich costumes. I will now give a short description of the Kagura I witnessed on that evening. Taking pictures was quite hard with the light and all those people, they are not really good for the most part, but bear with me.
The bell dance
The bell Kagura is a dance to please the gods and started performance. The moves with the fan and the bells were impressive.
The dancing god
Fighting the demon
Next up was a story I did not quite get, to be honest. A young man angered a god who called forth lightning and set the man to fight a demon for his live, or something along those lines.
The deceiving fox
Destroying the demon
Then the story of a monk and a man of herculean strength travelling together and meeting a beautiful woman who charmed the monks companion. She turned out to be a demon, fooling humans by disguising herself as a girl and eating her victims alive. The monk was able to prevent the worst at first, but they were not able to kill the demon, the nine-tailed fox. Two warriors appeared, however, a master archer and a swordsman, sent out to exterminate the fox, and ultimately prevailed.
The whole thing was more of a comedy and quite entertaining.
Exorcism
The dance of exorcism was next, depicting the story of a ruler who fell very ill until a god appeared in his dream and fought a demon there. After the gods victory the ruler/king woke up and was healed. This one dragged on for some time.
The god of prosperity
The penultimate Kagura was easier to enjoy, it was an homage to the god of fishing, prosperity and commerce, pictured as an fat man who loves to fish.
Fire elements of the snake
The finale was great, a story originally from China: The extermination of Yamato-no-Orochi. The story is as follows. Yamato-no-Orochi is a snake demon, taxing a village with one maiden/princess every year. There were eight princesses originally, but only one remained, and the old folk of the village became really desperate and cried to the gods not to take her away. Susanoo-no-mikoto, the brother of the sun goddess appeared in the village and prepared a poisoned wine, ready to slay the monster.
When the last princess was presented to Yamato-no-Orochi, it drank the wine and fell asleep, enabling the god to cut off its heads (of which is has eight in the version I know, on stage there were four). Of course this couldn't happen without a proper fight, but the good prevailed and the princess was saved. Here some pictures:
The maiden struggles
Yamata no Orochi devours the maiden
The poison in effect
Fighting Yamata no Orochi
Yamata no Orochi's defeat
The whole thing lasted for three hours and was a great watch. With me standing directly behind the rows of seats (no, I didn't get one, had to stand), the view was good as well.
I was glad to be under the roof, however, others didn't have that luck.
Also, many things to be seen at this matsuri have some special stamps outside and people compete to get all of them. I also saw such stamps at the Eihei-ji temple and the Silver Pavilion. Probably some kind of proof that you where there. Took some of those in my notebook.
That was the matsuri as I experienced it.
Unfortunately it rained quite a lot during this week, but it was bearable. The folks at the shrine where well prepared and had shelters put up really fast as soon as it looked like it would start. The main sidewalks had roofs as well, no problem there.

Higashi Hongan-ji, Nishi Hongan-ji, Nijo Castle
Higashi Hongan-ji
Today I started off at Kyoto Station and headed north. Just a few minutes of walking brought me to the Higashi Hongan-ji (Eastern Temple of the Original Vow), the name and at the same time head temple of one of the dominating sub sects of the Shin sects of Buddhism in Japan, the other being the Nishi Hongan-ji (Western Temple of the Original Vow). There originally was only one sect, but the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu split it two to reduce its power and influence.
The temple had a great gate and large, heavily decorated halls which also contain sacred heirlooms of the sect. Taking pictures is prohibited inside the halls and at the entrance of the main building you have to take off your shoes.
Went through the gates and explored the area for a bit before continuing on.
Hair rope
Found this hair rope (yes, made of hair from the followers of the sect). As the quality of ropes back at the construction of the temple was still lacking, hair was preferred. These ropes and the sleigh (below) were used to move and place the timber for the temple.
Nishi Hongan-ji entrance
Next up was the Nishi Hongan-ji, a litte walk west of the Higashi Hongan-ji. The premises seemed bigger to me, but where essentially the same. A prayer was going on there, however, the chanting of the monks was interesting to hear.
Nishi Hongan-ji bell
Nishi Hongan-ji
Both temples had the stamp areas again, one creating "check points" throughout the area to guide those collecting them.
Inner castle of Nijo-jo
I took a bus bound north to reach the Nijo Castle after the temples. I drive by this castle every day and I decided that it was time I finally saw its interior. There are two concentric lines of defence, each with a tall wall and a moat, surrounded by large gardens. Again, no taking pictures inside.
There were impressive screen-paintings in all the halls and you could take a look at the major rooms of the castle, from the Shogun's private chambers to the room he met with his subordinates.
Another interesting part of the castle is the Nightingale Floor, which is build to squeak, creak and make musical noises when stepped on, in order to detect anyone trying of infiltrate the castle. It still works!
Left the castle and strolled through the gardens.
Some pictures of Nijo-jo:
Nijo-jo entrance
Carvings on Nijo-jo
Nijo-jo garden
Nijo-jo inner fortifications
View from Nijo-jo fortifications
Came by this pond, there are turtles in there!
It was really hot today and I was glad when I came back to my air conditioned room.

Temple hopping
Kinkaku-ji
Went temple hopping today and topped it of with a visit at an onsen/sento.
Ninna-ji
I started at Ninna-ji in the northwestern part of Kyoto. The temple is guarded by four statues, two lions on the inside, two gods(?) on the outside. Had a nice garden and some screen paintings on display. I couldn't show the ones at Nijo-jo, so here you go:
Satisfied? Good.
The whole thing consists of several buildings and a spacious garden, Torii and pagoda inclusive.
Ninna-ji garden
Torii@Ninna-ji
Ninna-ji pagoda
I planned this trip as a walking tour, so off I went to my next target: the Ryoan-ji.
Dry garden of Ryoan-ji
Garden of Ryoan-ji
This temple is famous for its dry garden. It lies within a spacious garden (free of charge to visit) and is placed in a separate building (500yen admittance). As most dry gardens it consists of white pebbles, representing water and larger stones, in this case 15. I could only make out 14 of them, and a small girl visiting with her father came to the same conclusion. There are two explanations. One: My arithmetical abilities are barely on par with those of a grade school kid. And two: the last one really hard to make out.
A miniature of the garden was also available.
Well, the whole thing wasn't really to my liking, to be honest. I much more enjoyed the walk through the surrounding garden/forest. Lots of greenery, a beautiful pond and way fewer people.
Was on my way again, this time to the main part of my visit in this area.
There are some useful signs around this area by the way.
Came by this university on my way, interesting exterior.
Reached the Kinkaku-ji then, the famous Golden Pavilion.
It was a hot day and the sun burned down, but that only enhanced the beauty of the pavilion with its upper level coated in gold. Placed in a lake, surrounded by nature, it was a astonishing sight.
Some pictures:
Wishing well or bad aim?
Kinkaku-ji garden
The pond had cranes surrounding it and lots of crane and turtles in it.
I wandered through the gardens of the Kinwaku-ji, shopped for some souvenirs and rested a bit.
Regarding the Ginkaku-ji vs Kinkaku-ji discussion: I can't rea lly tell you which one is superior, the Kinkaku-ji is definitively flashier, but the Ginkaku-ji has its own charm. If the chance arises, visit both.
Funaoka-onsen entrance
Funaoka-onsen was my last stop today, a public bath well liked for its traditional setting.
Upton entering you pay the fee and can borrow towels and buy soap. Then you enter the changing area (separated by gender, the baths as well), undress and put you stuff in a locker. The keys have bands on them to wear around hour wrist or neck. Taking only the soap and the small towel (yes, there is a big one as well) with you, you enter the bathing area. There is a section for washing yourself, featuring plastic stools to sit on. There you clean yourself. Thoroughly. I saw several people taking care of other sanitary issues there as well, inclusive brushing your teeth and shaving. When you are clean (no bubbles left, any soap gone, just you in a clean state), you enter the bath. There are usually several kinds of bath available: Different tubs (wooden, stone, normal), different temperatures, bubble baths and special kinds like electric baths and bath with supposedly medical effect. You can stay as long as you like and enter all of them.
The Funaoka-onsen also has two outdoor-baths, cast in natural stone and featuring small waterfalls. One of them is hot and the other cold, to be enjoyed after leaving the nearby sauna.
It was a hot day, as I mentioned before, so the sauna and the hottest of the bath were quite hard to bear.
There were also lots of carvings on the wooden surfaces, especially in the changing area.
Refreshed and clean I left.
Pontocho
It was 4p.m. by then and I took a stroll through Pontocho, the nightlife and restaurant district of Gion, before returning home.
A phenomenon I quite like is that whenever a shrine is in the way of new buildings or structures, the thing is just build around the shrine. Like in this picture, in the middle of a busy and noisy shopping arcade, several shrines can be found.

Arashiyama
Went to Arashiyama today, a great area for walking around and a half-day hike. Took the bus to Arashiyama and first entered the Tenryu-ji (lit. Sky Dragon Temple), 500yen for the garden, another 100yen for the temple itself. Seemed about right in proportion, the most interesting part was probably the room with sliding screen paintings.
Tenryu-ji
Tenryu-ji screen paintings
Tenryu-ji dry garden
I exited the temple garden by its north exit and reached the main reason for my visit here, the bamboo forest.
Pictures:
Adopted child?
Arashiyama bamboo forest
Bamboo grafiti?
As I still had time, I decided to add a hike to the Monkey Mountain.
Monkey Mountain map
Took some time and left me pretty drenched (well, it was a hot day after all), but it is not a hard track to reach the top.
Monkey quiz
Danger sign
Hand print
Emergeny button
Yeah...right
And then there were the monkeys:
My first monkey
Monkey on a slide
Snack time
Monkeys drinking
And it is the time of year where the young monkeys are around:
Monkey kid
Monkey kids
The view on there was really great, overlooking Kyoto and the surrounding mountains. Also, there is a rest place up there where you can feed the monkeys through a wire fence. Yes, you are in a cage, not the monkeys.
Gret view
Took quite a lot of pictures of monkeys and bamboo today.
Went back after that and did some souvenir shopping. Tomorrow I will be taking a look at Gion some more, lots to see there.

Gion again
Sanjusangendo
Surrounding wall of Sanjusangendo
Visited the Sanjusangendo today, a temple basically consisting of a great hall featuring 24 statues of the Heavenly Guardians and 1001 statues of the Thousand Armed Kannon. These statues are nearly life size, 500 Kannons placed right of the great statue in the middle (oh, and this one is enormous, a truly great view) , 500 left and the 24 Guardians lined up before them. Oh, and the Thousand Armed Kannons here don't actually have 1000 arms, but 40. As it is believed that one arm of the Kannon can save 25 worlds, that makes a thousand per statue. Still a whole lot of arms in one hall. Picture taking is strictly prohibited inside.
Nishiki market
Went to the Nishiki-market then, a street lines with stalls and shops dedicated to food. Fresh seafood, cooking utensils, vegetables, all you want.
Went into a shop purely for cooking knives and bought some stuff (these utensils where pretty much on top of the things I want to bring home from Japan after all). Really nice merchandise and staff there, got my name in Katakana engraved into the knives (free service).
Oh, and I entered one of those:
100yen shop
Nice place to get some cheap stuff (there are some useful things on sale as well).
Geisha district
Wandered through Gion and reached the Geisha street. And there she was, on her way to the taxi bringing her to her appointment:
Maiko/Geisha
Stopped by the sake bar Yoramu on my way back.
Yurakuso sake bar
Really nice atmosphere and the barkeeper (came to Japan half his live ago by chance and never left) knows just about everything there is to know about his business. Oh, and he speaks English by the way.
He offers sake samplers, consisting of three different sake types which are different for every costumer. You tell him what kind of taste you like or dislike (not in liquor, in general) and he gives you a range of taste to get a feeling for sake. Mine consisted of a dry one, tasting like a dry white wine with high alcohol content, a foggy white one, dry with a bit of sweetness and a fruity one with lots of flavor. I didn't like the white one very much, the others were good. I ordered a sweet one for finishing up, something like a desert wine, I told him. What I got was a really unusual sake, one make from completely unpolished rice (meaning the rice still has its outer shell, its not rubbed away), which is really rare, I was told. It was sweet, it was good, it was a great wrap for the day.
Oh, and I saw this woman walking her dog...Or something. Anyone got an idea why she is driving it around like that?
On my way back I noticed this Torii from the bridge I was standing on. Interesting placement, to say the least.
Another hot day, and I spent quite some money today.

Nara
Nara, Japan
Me with deer
Went to Nara today, famous for its many deer (about 1200, they were worshiped as messengers of the gods before Buddhism spread in Japan and since then held dearly), the largest wooden building of the world and its massive bronze Buddha (Daibutsu). Activated my JRP and withdrew some money beforehand and had a great breakfast (sushi ekiben).
After arriving I picked up a map and started my tour, the Nara-koen makes a great half-day hike from sight to sight.
Oh, and the mascot of Nara, Sento-kun, is omnipresent, you literally see him everywhere.
Isui-en
Started off at the Isui-en garden, pretty big and truly beautiful.
Pictures:
Continued to the Daibutsu-den then, the huge wooden building containing the great Daibutsu.
Nandai-mon
You enter the area trough the massive Nandai-mon, containing two fierce looking guardians, said to be two of the finest statues of all Japan. One could actually expect them to spring to life.
Trough the gate and you are near the main hall:
Daibutsu-den Hall
The building was rebuild in 1709 and is now a mere two thirds of its original size. That two thirds still make it the biggest wooden building of the world, though.
Daibutsu
The Daibutsu itself is made of 437 tonnes of bronze and 130kg of gold and of course dominating the hall.
Pictures can't really be used to represent the dimensions we are dealing with here, and spamming superlatives probably won't help.
Behind the Daibutsu is a pillar with a hole in it, exactly the size of one of the nostrils of the great Buddha. It is said that those who fit through there are definitively going to reach enlightenment. Its the perfect size for kids. (Read as: There are lines of kids waiting to try their luck and lines of parents waiting to snap their pictures.)
The temples and shrines of Japan rely heavily on donations and sell good luck charms and the such. Also you can buy a wooden plate or a great candle on which you write your wish. These are burned by the monks in order for the wishes to be fulfilled. There are many different versions of this, the Daibutsu-den is selling roof tiles to be used in reconstruction.
Wandered the premises after leaving the hall. There are a great many temples, shrines and gardens in the area, I won't bore you with those.
Some pictures of the park though:
Nara-koen
One hall had this warning, pretty interesting way of putting things, no?
Well, by now you probably ask yourself: "Where are the deer?". Here you go:
Stag with twisted horns
Many deer, many droppings
Deer
Stalking stag
Deer and senbei-seller
Moveset of the common deer
There are special deer-crackers on sale for 150yen to feed them with. Got stalked by one after buying a pack. That's by the way the only thing that will attract them like in the headline-picture, once they know you got no more, they are gone.
Nara is a must-see on every trip in the Kansai-area and is thus frequented by tourist groups and school classes. There were many groups like that, but the hall is enormous and if you wait for a few minutes you can enjoy the sight in peace. If you don't happen to carry anything resembling deer food, that is.
written by  JuergenS on July 22, 2010 from Nara, Japan

Culinary: Matsuri Stalls
In the aftermath of the Gion Matsuri I would like to speak about the stalls there. Lots of different food is sold at every matsuri, some of which became the trademark of these summer festivals. There are also other stalls around, like I mentioned in my post about the Gion Matsuri, so I will focus on the culinary part here.
BBQ
Skewered meat from the grill, either with BBQ-sauce or with dry rub. Do I have to say more?
Takoyaki
Fried octopus balls (eating some while I write this). The batter is filled in a special fryer, basically a skillet with lots of cavitieis), spices and a piece of octopus added and the whole thing gets turned over while baking/frying to archive a ball form. Really good, those things. Served with various toppings and normally sold in sets of six or eight.
Taiyaki
Not really a matsuri food, but there was a stand at the Gion Matsuri. It's a sweet cake-like thing in the form of a fish and filled either with cream or anko (sweet bean paste). Again a special fryer, this time basically a waffle maker, is used to get the batter in shape.
Fruits
Great to cool down a bit, fruit skewers are readily available.
Ikayaki
Grilled squid. Basically the same as BBQ, just substitute the meat with a squid (cross cut for better grilling).
Okonomiyaki
This specialty of the Kansai region is often described as a savory pancake. A bit of batter is put on the hot plate and formed to thin, round layer, on which lots of cabbage, grilled seafood and basically whatever you want is put. The one I ate (not at a matsuri) had bacon on top. The whole thing is then flipped over and when the cabbage is soft and done, placed on a layer of egg (yes, scrambled and grilled in the form of a thin layer). Flip again, add special okonomiyaki-sauce and spices and you are done. Delicious and really filling.
Yakisoba
Grilled noodles with cabbage and meat. A typical food in japan, easy to make and delicious.
Candy fruits
Those are really sweet, had trouble to finish mine. They take the fruits (the classic is an apple, slightly boiled) and dip it in liquid sugar (or whatever lollipops are made from). Various fruits available.
Kakikoori
Shaved ice. You can choose your flavor and it is added in the form of syrup/juice poured on top. Cool and sweet.
Burger
Yes, they are here to, and they are big!
Corn-on-the-cob
A classic for BBQ.
Frankfurts
Sausages
Called Frankfurts, don't look like the ones I know.
Cucumber-on-a-stick
Again, for cooling down.
Karaage Chicken
Fried chicken pieces with various flavors (chili, garlic, soy sauce, salty, ...). You buy a cup (3 sizes) and fill it with whatever types you want.
Crepés
They are a hit in Japan and really good. Quick definition: A thin pancake, filled with cream, fruit, chocolate etc. and rolled up into a cone.
Noodle dish
Others
There are of course others as well and they differ from region to region. I don't even know exactly what kind of noodle-dish it is, I took a picture of here.
And a note for the beer-drinkers: There are the constant shouts of "Nama Biru!" at every corner, praising their beer and tempting you to buy.
The interesting thing is, the price rises with reduced distance to the main part of the matsuri. When I started at the Yakata shrine, a fair distance from the boiling center, the beer at the Convenience Store is about 230yen a can. Once you enter the area of the matsuri you can buy it in cans of in cups for 300yen, if you go near it its 400yen and when you are right in the middle of the whole thing, meaning where all the different stalls are, one can is 500yen.
Of course the prices of every stall are probably higher than elsewhere, but it's really obvious with the beer.
By the way, a beer stand I saw looked like this:
Beer guys

Osaka
Osaka, Japan
Ferris wheel
Went to Osaka today, gotta see this city if you stay some time in the Kansai area.
Osaka aquarium
Started off at the Osaka Aquarium, right next to the Giant Ferris Wheel in the bay area.
Lots of sharks, mantas and yes, people (well, its Saturday and all). The star of the audience is the young dolphin, swimming along its mother.
Aquarium crowd
Manta greeting
Penguin
Dolphin with child
Manta
Spiral fish
Turtle posing
Crabs
Lots of restaurant and fast food stalls in the near market, also some well-known names.
Subway
KFC
What I ultimately found is this:
Bukkake, in MY food?
No further comment, did feel a bit weird eating there though.
A comedian did a show for the kids right when I left, he was not bad!
Went to the city center then, wandered about America Mura for a while.
Interesting streetlights around Osaka.
There are lots of shopping arcades, pretty much looking like that:
Shopping arcade
Found out that I suck at crane games.
Also, there is an entire arcade for cooking utensils, restaurant needs and pretty much anything to do with the preparation, consumption and selling of food.
A whole shop dedicated to the plastic food seen in shop windows (pretty handy when you can't read the menu). None of the stuff you see in the following pictures is actually edible.
Fake food
The Tenjin Matsuri is held today and tomorrow in Osaka, one of the three biggest festivals in Japan. Took a quick stroll around, lots of stalls again and some new stuff I didn't see at the Gion Matsuri.
Yukatas - Asorted colors
Yukatas everywhere
Tenjin Matsuri
Interesting fashion choice
Tenjin Matsuri - Boat
Got on my way back to Kyoto and did some planning for my last week there.
written by  JuergenS on July 24, 2010 from Osaka, Japan

Culinary: Local Specialties - Part 1
I would like to show you some of the local food I had the pleasure to try in this post, here we go:
Tonkatsu set
Tonkatsu
Basically fried pork chop/loin. An easy and popular dish in Japan, it probably has as many variations as Wiener Schnitzel has in Austria. The one in the picture was more on the side of a Cordon Bleu, filled with summer veggies. Classical sides are rice and shredded cabbage. The place I visited had a piece of tofu, some pickles, rice, tea, cabbage and miso soup. The last four were all-you-can eat, meaning they would be refilled as often as you wanted. Whole thing cost about 9eur.
Kyoto's Okonomiyaki
Okonomiyaki - Kyoto-style
I talked about those already in my post about Matsuri Stalls, just wanted you to see another picture. Also, there is of course a multitude of ways to make these things, with thick dough or just a thin crust, with noodles or w/o, with seafood or meat. Depends on the place you eat at, there is no definite style. The one in the picture actually had a main body of egg with cabbage, topped with bits of meat and Bonito flakes and a side of Yakisoba.
Hiroshima's Okonomiyaki
Okonomiyaki - Hiroshima-style
In Hiroshima they put noodles (soba, udon) in their Okonomiyaki, a great fit, if you ask me.
Noodle bowl
Ramen (and other noodle bowls)
Inexpensive, filling and really good, Ramen are a Japanese fast food almost everybody loves. You can choose your toppings and the type of soup base you want (salt, soy sauce and miso usually) and dig in. There are other dishes like Ramen as well, differing in type of noodles or way of serving.Tthe picture above actually does not show Ramen, as the noodles are different.
Katsudon
Breaded fried pork chop over rice, served with a special sauce and egg. A classic, really, and always good. It also became famous because in many detective stories a suspect would be tempted to confess using a Katsudon, after many hours of interrogation without food or sleep.
Fukui's Sauce Katsudon
Sauce Katsudon
A specialty of Fukui, differing from normal Katsudon through the difference in meat (its port alright, but a different part), the different breading and the different sauce used. The sauce is served in a separate dish, the customer can adjust the intensity of the flavor to his liking.
Tempuradon
Fried shrimp (or other seafood) over rice. A bit dry, but good nevertheless.
Hamburg steak
A burger patty with sauce, served with or without fried egg and with a side of rice. Another classic in Japanese households and inspired by the American burger.
Hiroshima's Oysters
Oysters - Hiroshima-style
Local oysters from Hiroshima, grilled right in front of you.
Summer curry
Curry
The Japanese love curry, its a common dish in pretty much every household. Without giving favor to any kind one can safely say that a Japanese curry exists, different but not inferior to its ancestor from India. Curry is served pretty much everywhere and there are several food chains offering only different curry dishes. And there are a lot, really. The one in the pictures had summer vegetables and chicken in it.
Giant Apple
Giant fruit and veggies
Found those apples in the picture at a market and yeah, they are big. Almost to big to finish one in one go. Also, there are many other fruits and vegetables that are way larger than those I am used to and readily available in every super market.
I will do a post for food on the go in the future, featuring Convenience Store lunches and Ekiben.
Oh, and yeah, I do get weird looks sometimes when I take pictures of the things I am eating.

Ise
Ise, Japan
Inner shrine - Entrance
Visited Ise today, the site of probably the most sacred Shinto shrine. There are actually two parts of this shrine, the Outer Shrine, near the station, and the Inner Shrine, a few km away.
The Inner Shrine is dedicated to (and enshrining) Amaterasu-no-omikami, the goddess of light in Shinto belief, as well as one of the imperial regalia, the sacred mirror (the other two being the sacred sword and the sacred beads --> Okami anyone?). There actually is a bit of a story behind that goddess and the mirror. Amaterasu once hid herself in a cave for the misbehaving of her brother, Susanoo, thus plunging the world in darkness. The other gods then used a mirror to reflect her own light (goddess of light --> sun) to herself and proclaimed that a new sun appeared and everything was fine. Raged the goddess stormed out of the cave and daylight thus returned to the lands.
The main halls/buildings of the two shrines are hidden from view behind fences, and only members of the imperial family and select priests are allowed near them. Of course, pictures are prohibited there as well. Jumping the fence is not a good idea either, as guards are nearby and you are constantly watched by cameras not so cleverly disguised as trees. That being said, many of the sub-buildings are exact replicas of the main one, so you can get a pretty good feeling what is looks like anyway.
I started off at the Outer Shrine, located in a lush forest. Pictures:
Outer shrine - Sub-building
Outer shrine - Pond
Outer shrine - Main building
Outer shrine - Entrance
A nice walk along the premises later I was off to the Inner Shrine.
The area is bigger, the garden/park really impressive, the trees there are massive (and I mean, really, really massive), there are more people and larger buildings than in the Outer Shrine. You approach through two big Toriis on either side of a bridge over a clear river and walk either through the park with lots of open space and sun or the cool and beautiful forest.
Inner shrine - Gate
View from the bridge
Inner shrine - Park
Inner shrine
Bridge construction
Inner shrine - Sub-building
Inner shrine - Main building
Inner shrine pond
Koi
Massive tree
Narnia?
There is a reason this shrine is also called the most impressive shrine of Japan, even though you can't see the main building (well, besides the roof). There is only one competing shrine, the Tosho-gu in Nikko, which is as gaudy as Ise-jinja is austere.
Oh, and due to Shinto tradition, the shrine is completely rebuilt every 20 years. For this, an empty lot is always kept next to the current one. The timber of the old one is then used for the Torii of the new one and sent to shrines all over Japan for repairs. This shrine has seen over 60 rebuilds by now! 2013 will be the next cycle take place.
The traveling time is really long from Kyoto, but I liked my visit here.
written by  JuergenS on July 26, 2010 from Ise, Japan

About temples, shrines, pavilions and castles
Torii@Ninna-ji
I have been going around quite a lot now, visiting temples, shrines, pavilions and castles and I have to say the clear winners are the shrines for me.
True, temples often have astonishing and really massive gates and halls and beautiful screen paintings and of course exploring a castle has its own thrill, but in the end I am just more interested in finding a small shrine somewhere amidst lots of greenery, moss growing everywhere and few to no other visitors around. It is there that I can feel really at peace and like I can esteem the beauty surrounding me. The same with gardens, the great and well visited Heian shrine itself was less interesting for me than the gardens surrounding it.
Seems like I am more of a nature-type than expected.
That is of course only my personal view and temple-hopping is fine as well, I just want everyone to consider visiting some off-the-beaten-path shrines if the chance arises.

Inari
Inari, Japan
Torii of Inari
Went to Inari today, to visit the Fushimi-Inari Taisha, the famous shrine trademarked by its hundreds of Torii, lined up along the path.
Just a short distance from the Inari station the shrine area begins and it looks just like other shrines at first. This changes, however, once you start you tour around the mountain. Literally hundreds of Torii are lined up, marking the path you take.
More torii
The beginning is easy enough and you soon reach another shrine site:
Light at the end of the tunnel
Inari map
These stones (the ones on the lanterns) where there as well. They are called the Heavy-light stones and after you make you wish you lift them. If they are light the wish will be granted. They are of medium weight, a divine shrug, I guess.
And off you go, following the path marked in the map above (but really, just follow the red gates). As you goal is on top of a mountain, the usual sight will be something like this:
And torii again
Oh and there are lots of steps, believe me.
From time to time you come across a rest place or a spiritual site with lots of Toriis and statues.
Lots of torii and statues
Climbing up
Torii in the forest
Small torii on sale
Remains of torii
Well, water's hard to come by on top of a mountain...
The drink above (water) is usually 110yen.
There are also dozens of fox statues along the way:
Fox statue
Fox with questionable fashion sense
Halfway through:
Reached the top
And down we go again
Outlook from halfway up
Its only a 4-5km walk/hike, but all those stairs kinda get to you after a while.
Went down a different way than I walked up, naturally, and came by an area with lots of small house-shrines and statues.
Oh, and it seems that the typical Japanese pond is the home to lots of koi, some ducks and lots of turtles.
written by  JuergenS on July 27, 2010 from Inari, Japan

Kyoto - Cleanup
Well, as it is my last week in Kyoto for a while, I still had some things I wanted to do, some restaurants I wanted to try and some places I wanted to visit.
Especially the places the bus I take every day drives by and I had not seen were on my list.
Here a short description (and picture dump) of the things I did when I was not away from Kyoto.
Kitano Tenman-gu market
Kitano-Tenmangu: A prominent shrine and on every 25th of the month venue for an enormous market held by the locals. You can buy all the typical flea-market things (Japanese style of course), lots of clothes and there are the food stalls I know from the matsuris as well. Good times.
Of course the shrine does not stop operating because of this.
Kitano Tenman-gu market- Armor and weapons
Kitano Tenman-gu market- Games
Kitano Tenman-gu
Kitano Tenman-gu - Umeboshi
==========
Kamigamo shrine
Just one bus stop north of Yurakuso (meaning: walking distance from where I stay), is the Kamigamo shrine, one of the oldest shrines around. It's dedicated to Raijin, the god of thunder. The two cones represent mountains for the gods to decent upon.
Kamigamo - Great Torii
Kamigamo - Mountains
Kamigamo park
Kamigamo - Construction
Located in an open park with lots of space and open to the public as an relaxation area it is a really nice place. Some kind of event seemed to be about to begin that evening as there were decorations everywhere, no idea what it was about.
Kamigamo - Foxes
Kamigamo - Statues
Kamigamo - Dragon
Kamigamo deko - Water children?
Kamigamo deko
I visited here on the same day as I visited Inari, so the following sight kinda seemed familiar:
Kamigamo - Torii
Kamigamo is on the foot of a forest on a mountain/hill and there are supposedly monkeys around.
Some other pictues I took while going around in Kyoto. Visited some temples/shrines and the park surrounding the Kyoto Imperial Palace:
Seimei shrine
Seimei shrine - Golden peach
Pagoda
Horikawa - Strolling and relaxation area
Imperial Palace Garden
Imperial Palace Park
Imperial Palace Map
Old Government Building
Temple
That's it for Kyoto for now, tomorrow I move to Tokyo.
Moving and Kyoto-flashback posts tomorrow.

Moving - Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
Quiet neighborhood
Moved to Tokyo today, of course it had to be the only rain day of the week so far. Well, I am just glad that it was dry for my last few days in Kyoto, so it's fine.
Due to me doing the checking-out-process yesterday already, I arrived waaaay before the specified time at the Tama Plaza station, meaning the landlord was not yet in. Took a cab to the Guest House, cost me 710yen.
Tama Plaza itself is a nice little town in Yokohama which is incredibly close to Shibuya and thus Tokyo (20min train ride). Its a quiet neighborhood with a little nightlife around the station area and the usual shops. I will do further posts as if I was staying in Tokyo for reasons of simplicity.
Chanel House - Front (nightview)
Took some time to sort things out and get to the room but I finally had the time to unpack. This moving was probably the hardest of my journey in terms of getting everything in the trunk, as I carried various things I will not take back home, but still need here with me. A really tight fit. Will sort things out before leaving the Chanel House for one last week in Kyoto with my girlfriend at the end of August.
For now, I settled in and took a stroll around the area to the station (about a 10min walk I guess, didn't take the exact time).
There is an Tokyu department store around, have yet to find a decent nearby conbini, however.
Some pictures:
The corridor (floor 1)
My new room - Front
My new room - Fridge and table
My new room - Side
My new room - Back
My new room - Bedding
I really grew to love the Yurakuso in Kyoto, the room was small but cozy and ideal for my purposes. The Chanel House is something completely different, the room being bigger (well, two people will stay there eventually), the floor w/o tatami-mats, the building big and lots of non-Japanese residents. Talked with my room-neighbor Gary for a while and got some info.
Will probably get used to here as well, but i would have loved to stay in Kyoto for a while longer.
written by  JuergenS on July 29, 2010 from Tokyo, Japan

Shibuya and Akihabara
Tokyo, Japan
Shibuya
After moving to Tama Plaza I took some days to settle in and get some orientation. As I noted before, Shibuya is the station on the Yamanote Line that's nearest to me, so I decided to explore the area first.
Well, that was the original plan, until I entered the station: Seemingly an accident of some sort occurred and the trains didn't move for another hour. Used the time to walk through the station area. Multiple storeys, lotsa shops and some eateries.
After that I got to Shibuya, the view from the station area down to the Shibuya crossing is something like that:
Shibuya crossing
This crossing is famous for its never-ending masses of people walking in all of its five directions.
Shibuya station
After leaving the station through the Hachiko exit I took a look at Hachiko himself (a famous extremly faithful dog who waited here for his owner who had already passed away, google or wikipedia for further info) and the area surrounding him.
Found this train car put there as a memorial of the "old" Shibuya and its way to its modern status. Some pictures, some info, some seats to rest and an AC.
Some other pictures of the area:
Shibuya 109
Disney store
Oh, and I found these guys, handing out free grapefruit drinks to everyone passing. Not bad.
Left Shibuya of the day.
=======
Another thing I noticed is the fact that there are Pokémon stations at every station around and lots of kids dragging their parents towards them. Seems like you can collect stamps of different Pokémon and exchange them for prizes.
Akihabara was next and I did pretty much all of the standard Akihabara stuff in an afternoon.
Radio Kaikan
Radio Kaikan is located directly in front of the Electric Town exit of the station and offers everything to satisfy your otaku-needs, from manga to doujins to games to model guns to trading cards to character goods ... The list goes on.
Some pics:
Lifesize Rei in yukata
Manga
F*ck ad (yes, it's a magazine)
The last poster shows a book that is supposed to translate expressions of Marines and American slang into Japanese. Motto = "Cuss like a Marine". Kinda hard to pass by, maybe I will get a copy later.
This line marks the border between the normal Manga and the 18+ stuff. Lots of people on both sides.
Other buildings:
Akihabara
Maid café ad
Game store
Maid cafés: One part of the Akihabara-experience that is known all over the world are these cafés where all waitresses are cute girls in maid outfits and addressing you as "Goshujin-sama" (=Master) or "Ojou-sama" (=Lady or Mistress).
You can play games with them for discounts or prices and many have musical performances, cute rituals and dancing. The one I went to had *g*
Inside you have to follow some rules like don't ask the maids about personal things and don't take pictures inside (pictures of the food are allowed though).
Maids
Iced coffee@Maid café
Another maid
Other pictures:
Gashopons
Mouse pads
Cosplay in front of a sex shop
Way to save money...
The last one explains a way for women to get discounts at a seven storey sex shop (there are some of those around): Buy a costume or lingerie, let an employee take a picture of you and hang in inside the shop. 20% for a costume, 30% for lingerie.
That was a quite interesting experience, all things considered ^^
So long an stay tuned,
written by  JuergenS on August 1, 2010 from Tokyo, Japan

Hakone
Hakone, Japan
Owakudani
Visited Hakone today for a dayhike in its rich nature. There is a lot you can do around there without actually doing much more than strolling around, maybe I will do that later.
One point of interest, aside from the obvious hiking trails through forests and up mountains, is the pure variety of means of transport available. You start off "at home" by Shinkansen, reach Hakone Yumoto by local train, switch to the switchback train to Gora, take the cable car (funicular) up Soun-zan and either hike or change to the gondola from there. Also you can do boat-trips on the famous lake of the area or take buses around.
After reaching Gora I continued up to Soun-zan by mentioned funicular.
From there I started my hike up the Owakudani mountain, an 80min affair through a dense forest and of course uphill (it's a mountain climb after all). Pictures:
Warning sign
Hiking up
Gondola station
Reached the top
Reached the crossroads where you can either go further up to a different mountain top or walk another 15min to the gondola station and the tourist spot of Owakudani.
On this mountain a lot of volcanic gas is breaking through the surface or bubbling up from sulphurous ponds.
They sell Kurotamago (back eggs) here, eggs cooked in the "hot springs" --> their outer layer turns black. They became the trademark of the area and there are lots of souvenirs designed after them. Got a pack of them, aside from the color they are pretty normal, maybe a slightly different taste.
Kurotamago - Inside
Kurotamago kitty
The mass of people was kinda uncomfortable after the hike alone (only met a pair of hikers on their way down once) but it is a popular tourist spot after all.
Found another item that will stay in Japan when I return home by the way: My shoes, they suffered quite a bit already. Will fix them for my remaining time here and get rid of them in the end. But hey: More space for souvenirs!
After my visit of the ponds and the kinda apocalyptic volcano landscape I made my way back. The weather grew worse and colder (it was raining a bit on my way up and lots of fog mixed with the volcanic gasses, but inside the forest you really didn't feel it). Took the gondola back to Soun-zan and the funicular to Gora from there the switchback train to Hakone Yumoto.
There is an onsen called Kappa Yukuraku right next to the station: My last stop before returning to Tokyo. Hakone got a lot of onsen with all that volcanic activity going on, they even created some by using excess volcanic gas that would otherwise have posed a danger of explosions). Dipped for a while and relaxed and went back "home".
written by  JuergenS on August 2, 2010 from Hakone, Japan

Asakusa
Tokyo, Japan
Food imitations shop
Went to Asakusa today for the temple, the market and the shopping. Going around Tokyo is really easy, as the Yamanote loop line connects you to pretty much anything you might want to visit, perhaps with the addition of riding for a few stops on a different line.
Got off the station, a guy collecting donations for typhoon and quake victims talked to me and after that I explored the area.
Yes, it's a brewey
Nakamise-dori was my first stop, it's right through the Kaminari-mon (see below) and basically the street leading to the Senso-ji, the prominent temple of the area. It is a market and souvenir street with pretty much anything you might want to buy and way more. Seriously, if you ever feel the need to buy a last-minute-present before going home, this is the place. Real weapons (swords, spears, sai, ...) on sale as well.
Nakamise-dori
Swords for sale
After browsing this madness I continued to the Senso-ji itself...
Kaminarimon
Senso-ji
Temples need public phones too, apparently
Temple construction going on
Giant sandal
...and the shrine right next to it
Nearby shrine
There was this pigeon sculpture and many signs to not feed them. You remember the deer on the island in Hiroshima? Same principle, way more specimen expected.
Pigeon statue
Anyone got an okarina handy?
Loving to cook myself I really looked forward to my next stop: Kappabashi-dori, the Kitchen Town of Tokyo. Its a street lined with pretty much everything to do with selling, preparing, presenting, storing, ... food. You can buy quality knives, cheap bowls and as many plastic food imitations as you can fit in you window. Oh, and a Kappa is a mystical creature living in rivers --> The mascots of the street.
Kappa tile
Coffee equipment
Food imitations
Pans and woks
Giant bug on the wall
Anyone wants to create their own Chinatown?
Furniture
Bowls
Kappa doll
Going to Nikko for two days tomorrow for its oh-so-many World Heritage Sites and the National Park.
written by  JuergenS on August 3, 2010 from Tokyo, Japan

Nikko
Nikko, Japan
Akechi-daira ropeway
I am back from Nikko where I stayed at an really nice place called the Turtle Inn for a night, which gave me enough time to get a good look at the place and its sights.
Hopping off the bus I first saw the Shin-Kyo, a famous and loved bridge of the area, build where supposedly a saint was carried over the river by two giant snakes.
Shin-Kyo entrance
Shin-Kyo
Was on my way west from there, towards the inn. As I still had some time before check-in, I visited the Imperial Villa first, the past residence of the Emperor. Seems like they enjoyed a game of four-ball there, at least that's what the sign on the billiard table said.
Nikko Imperial Villa
Imperial Villa billiard room
Imperial Villa garden
Checked in after that at the Turtle Inn, got a handy map of the area and some info and was shown my room. The rooms are named after months here (I am assuming that there are twelve rooms, accordingly), and I got July. This inn got two onsen-baths for private use, which I really enjoyed later that day.
I still had a lot of daylight left then and decided to walk up to the temple and shrine complexes with its World Heritage Sites. First up was Taiyuin-Byo, essentially a more petite version of the main sight of the complex, the Tosho-gu.
Taiyuin-Byo entrance
Taiyuin-Byo
Its gates are protected by several guardians:
Fujin
Raijin
Guardian deity
Taiyuin-Byo guardians
Inside the main hall photographing was prohibited, but there are a great many dragons painted on the ceiling, said to carry the prayers of the believers to the heavens. Some are holding crystals (prayers) and are on their way up, others are without and on their way back to collect more.
Nearby is the Futarasan-jinja, a very old structure with a lovely spring.
Futarasan-jinja torii
Futarasan-jinja
Futarasan-jinja sacred spring
As most of the sites close at 17h that was it for day one, I soaked in the onsen, enjoyed a beautiful dinner of sukiyaki and fish and relaxed. After a good sleep and a "western style" breakfast I checked out and was on my way.
First up was the Gamman-Ga-Fuchi Abyss, an area with a great many of Jizo statues, the guardians of travelers. Halfway through their line is the Bake-Jizo, said to mock traveler who try to count them all.
Gamman-Ga-Fuchi Abyss
Jizos
Bake-Jizo, I guess
They are in different states of corrosion at some places:
Complete Jizo
Jizo w/o head
Gone Jinzo
Got on a bus and was on my way to the next point of interest, the Chuzenji-ko area with its lake and waterfall.
I got off one stop early and took the Akechi-daira ropeway up, from where you have a fantastic view.
Ropeway-station from above
View to the lake and fall
It's supposed to be a round-trip, but I left from the ropeway station and followed an old hiking/walking path through the surrounding hills and the forest to the lake itself.
A really nice tour, but I kinda seem to attract shoe-related problems, as my hiking boots decided to fail on my way. I took two pairs of footwear with me to Japan, one for hiking, one for everything else, and both managed to start looking their soles. One of my boots just barley hung there by the end of the hike, kept it up by tying it to the rest of the book with the laces. This really is a problem, as I was planning to wear them on my trip up the Fuji, an endeavor now in danger of being canceled (I am not going up my first mountain with loose soles and a new pair is not really an option). Anyway, after being lost for a moment and ending up a bit off the way I wanted to go, I reached the lake area.
Chuzenji-ko lake
Chuzenji-ko swans
The Kegon-no-taki is right next to it, 95m of falling water. There is an elevator down to its base, which I did not take.
Back to central Nikko, I finally entered the grand Tosho-gu:
Tosho-gu entrance
Tosho-gu gate
Tosho-gu
It is famous for its many carvings all around, especially for those of the three monkeys (see below), the Kirin (a mythical beast somewhere between a giraffe and a dragon) and the portraits of elephants by an artist who never saw the real thing.
Tosho-gu carvings
Tosho-gu elephants, I think
Tosho-gu elephant?
The three monkeys, depicting that a child should "see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil". There are many other carvings of monkeys on that building, I am sure the interested will find info on them by themselves.
Tosho-gu monkeys
Famous three monkeys
More monkeys
Also,Ieyasu's tomb is there, located up steep stairs right next to the main area and surrounded by the forest.
Way to Ieyasu's tomb
Ieyasu's tomb
Went back after that, the travel from Nikko to Tokyo takes some time after all. In Utsuomiya I had some time to spare, waiting for the next Shinkansen to arrive, so I tried the gyoza (chinese dumplings) the area is known for.
Reached "home" in the evening.
written by  JuergenS on August 5, 2010 from Nikko, Japan

Cultural: The call of nature
Toilet sign at a shrine
Japanese toilets have a certain reputation in the West for being high-tech and sporting lots of buttons and a whole range of functions, from pre-warmed seats to blow-drying. But that's not the type you will find in your average station stall, the truth looks like this:
Japanese toilet
These are the classic Japanese toilets and you can find them pretty much everywhere. No technology, no seat. Found a site explaining the processes involved: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~AD8Y-HYS/movie.htm .
Basically, crouch down, do you business, don't fall down and look out for cramps in your calves.
Now, that being said, Western-style toilets are getting more and more popular and you can often see toilets with some separately labeled stalls. Due to this, you can experience the following phenomenon in department stores: There is a line in front of the Western-toilet, the Japanese ones are pretty much deserted. So sometimes it's better to just go with the local version.
Western-style toilet
Western-style is pretty much just a name, by the way, as about the only fact the average European toilet has in common with those here is the fact that you sit down to use them. As I said before, the seats are heated, you can have fountains if you want, you can have them play music, you can have yourself blow-dried and there are different flushing-programs. Of course there are "normal" ones as well, the form and functionality always depends on where you are at the moment.
Trail toilet
"normal" toilet
Another thing one should remember is the topic of paper: Many public toilets don't have it, so bring it. I am talking both toilet paper and paper for drying your hands here. For this, there are these vending machines, where you can buy two packets of tissues for 100yen. The use in public toilets and wiping your face of sweat is by the way pretty much the only use paper towels have in Japan, as cleaning your nose in public is considered rude. Also there are always some people in crowded areas handing out tissue packets with ads on them, it's a popular form of advertising.
Get some of these, just to be on the save side and avoiding unpleasant surprises.
written by  JuergenS on August 6, 2010 from Tokyo, Japan

Left and right of Shibuya
Harajuku girls
Covered the area around Shibuya (meaning train stations nearby) today, more precisely Harajuku, Yoyogi, Ikebukuro and Roppongi.
I started at Harajuku, where the "Harajuku girls" are probably themost popular "sights" on weekends. Cosplayers, lolitas (cute/goth) and kimono/yukata clad people meet here to pose for hordes of (wannabe)photographers and to confuse some tourists.
Today some kind of official shooting was going on as well, as there were guys with TV cameras taking interviews.
Harajuku girls and co:
Passing harajuku girls
TV interview
Group picture
?
The madness from above
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Right behind the gathering area lies the Yoyogi park, a popular area for cycling, relaxing, walking, jogging and all kind of social events. There were groups rehearsing for performances, training their moves (martial art and other) or just picnicking and sunbathing.
Yoyogi park
Yoyogi park entrance
Yoyogi park map
There were all kinds of musicians around as well:
Yoyogi musician
From the entrance you can see this stadium for sporting activities.
Next to this park is the Meiji shrine, dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and his companion, the Empress. They played a very important role in Japanese history, but I won't give you a lesson on that now, there are enough sources out there. Lets just say they worked towards an Japan open to the world and established the mentality of "learning from the best without loosing the Japanese spirit". Basically Japans trait of picking something up from the market, enhancing/altering it and turning it Japanese.
The Emperor seemed to have a thing for the French, thus the wine he received as a sign of goodwill (on the other side of the road are the classical sake barrels you see at shrines).
Meiji shrine
Meiji shrine wine
Did a quick sidestep to Ikebukuro but wasn't in a shopping mood. Otherwise the Sunshine 60 might have tempted me, a 60-storeyed building of shopping malls and offices.
Sunshine 60
Ikebukuro
Animate
Roppongi is probably the most popular nightlife area of Tokyo, with restaurants, bars and clubs for every taste.
Also, there is a Hard Rock Cafe with an ape hanging from its side.
Hard Rock Cafe Roppongi
King Kong@HRC

Kyo no Tanabata
Illuminated bamboo with wishes
I am back to Kyoto for two nights to tie up some loose ends (mainly culinary), attend the Kyo no Tanabata festivities and use my rail pass to its fullest *g*
Got the guest house, checked in and was off again. One of the major advantages of having a home-base is the fact that you can travel light and leave you heavy stuff behind --> Exactly what I did.
Anyway, I organized some stuff for the future (made some phone calls, troubled some LAWSON-employees [not my fault that even they can't handle their vending machines]) and got myself some delicious food. Post about the culinary side of this trip in the making.
The Kyo no Tanabata is, as the name suggests, Kyoto's Tanabata festival and lasts a week. During this time the city is decorated with lots of bamboo, to which the locals attach their wishes.
Tanabata is the time of the year when two stars are said to meet, the legend being that Hitoboshi and Orihime (our two stars in question) fell in love with each other and neglected all their work in the heavens. This made the ruler of those realms angry and so he separated them, putting the Milky Way between them. He was moved by their love, however, and allowed them to meet once a year --> Tanabata. In the west the stars are called Altair and Vega.
Tanabata is celebrated either on 7/7 or 8/8 of the year and its custom to write the wish you want the stars to fulfill on a strip of paper and hang it on a bamboo.
Ok, enough info, here are some pictures:
Entrance
Lights from afar
Main grove?
The Kamogawa and the Horigawa (rivers) are the sites for the main decorations, with lots of illuminated stuff and floating LEDs, representing the Milky Way.
Till know the pictures where from the Kamogawa site, the Horikawa ones follow.
Chimes
Bamboo deco
Grove and floating LEDs
Fabric and lights
Floating LEDs
Start of the fabric
There is more to see, but as I had another day in Kyoto I postponed that and went home. Took this opportunity to do some planning of the next two weeks, after which my girlfriend will finally join me here in Japan. By the way, I was staying at the same guest house like last time for these two nights.
Turns out it rained the next day, intervals of soft sprinkles and downpours, heavy on the latter --> Bought an umbrella from a Convenience Store, still not the weather you want to be exposed to. Got some lunch and headed for the shopping arcades. Ended up in a cinema in the end and confirmed that many movies are NOT dubbed in Japan (well, except for animation) but subbed, a strategy I really like.
I didn't get to see the rest of the Kyo no Tanabata, but that's a) tolerable and b) nothing I can do something about.
written by  JuergenS on August 10, 2010 from Kyoto, Japan

Odaiba and Comiket preparations
Rainbow Bridge
Tomorrow marks the start of the three-day-madness that is Comiket 78, so I did some scouting today and got a good look at Odaiba as well.
Tokyo Big Sight
Started off at the Tokyo Big Sight of course, the venue for the Comic Market.
Some preparation going on there, both the on-site Conbini and Comiket crew stocking up on what they need to satisfy the masses to arrive tomorrow.
Conbini prep
Comiket catalogues
Well, now that I new where it is and how I get there, I was off to explore the rest of this man-made island.
While walking around I found these tiles, depicting star constellations. Some of them I knew and recognized, others, however, I could not make out at all. Heck, if not for the name I might not even have looked at some from the correct side. Wikipedia helped, once I was at home, but I still find the picture of Puppis confusing.
Constellation
Also came across some girls advertising Red Bull and introducing the Japan-sized cans (a bit smaller than the ones at home). They where pretty surprised when I told them that I came from the same country as the stuff they where handing out *g*.
Red Bull ad car
Austria ^^
By the way, it started raining while I walked around. Typical.
One thing you should not miss in Odaiba are the enormous shopping malls with included gourmet restaurants and indoor amusement parks. Yes, different rides, houses of horror and lots of games under one roof. For those who like more physically challenging games there is the Muscle Park, where strength and skill are necessary to win.
Aqua city
Decks Tokyo Bay
Muscle Park
Indoor theme park
Came by this JUMP shop as well, lots and lots of merchandise and interesting crossovers.
JUMP shop
Chopper - Overview
Zoom on nose
They where doing a lot drawing in front of it, meaning that you can buy a ticket and win whatever letter you draw (A-I I think), A and B being the grand prizes. Bought a ticket, got a B and am now the owner of a really big Whitebeard statue (One Piece).
Picture:
Edward "Whitebeard" Newgate
Still not sure how I will fit him in my trunk with all the other souvenirs, but nice nevertheless ^^
Right outside the Decks you can see the Statue of Liberty of Odaiba and the Rainbow Bridge.
Statue of Liberty
Some other pictures:
Outlook from Big Sight
Harbour cruise anyone?
Ferris wheel
Museum of Maritime Science
Flame of Liberty
Odaiba
I also visited the National Museum for Emerging Sciences and Innovation a.k.a. Miraikan, probably the most rewarding science museum of Japan. Lots of interesting info (if you like science, that is), interactive displays, and a stunning range of areas. You start of with the basics of science and research, enter space-related areas, go over to life sciences and end up at the earth as a whole. I really recommend a trip there, if the opportunity arises. They have their normal exhibition as well as a changing special exhibition, the latter of which I will visit in the next days as well.
Miraikan
Mobile robot
LEGO Mindstorm
LCD globe
Miraikan - Tech area
My heat image
From tomorrow on it's Comiket-time, this should be interesting.

Comiket - Day 1
Summer Wars group
Comiket 78 day 1 is over and my feet are tired. Bought some stuff, got some more for free and rubbed shoulders with countless other visitors. But from the beginning:
Miraikan-line
Wanted to enter the Miraikai again before going to Comiket to avoid the crowds (two hours waiting are quite possible if you reach there at the point of opening) and was greeted with the picture on the left. This line obviously ends at the entrance of the Miraikan, loops back (as you see in the picture), reaches the facade again, goes on along it to the opposite corner of this - very big - building, turns at the corner, continues there, then loops back to reach the facade again and ends near the corner opposing the entrance. Oh, and the markings on the street suggest that an even longer line is expected and manageable, by a slalom through eight trees, for example.
If I wanted enormous lines in the morning I would have gone to the Comiket first --> exactly what I did then.
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Entering - Riding the masses
After exiting the station I found a loop though the area in front of the Big Sight, but this was not really a line but a lot of people walking in the same direction. Didn't cost much time, but the sheer number of visitors is amazing. The venue can handle it, however, it really is BIG. Many halls, multiple storeys and you walk quite some time from one end to the other. Of course all the circles (35,000 of them, approximately) selling their stuff and all the potential buyers checking it out are taking the time spent exploring the area to a whole new level. Pictures are banned except for the cosplay areas, but it was an interesting experience in there. From the small circles selling their doujins to the big companies and makers having their booths with long lines in front of them and lots of stuff to hand you can get pretty much everything you need to satisfy your otaku needs.
Cosplay area - Day 1
And there are the cosplayers, great numbers of them. Not much more to say, just take a look:
Angel Beats pair
Mario
Fuehrer (the second one of the day)
Nara mascot
Mugi&Mio [K-ON!!]
Street Fighter
Sailor scouts
Mari [EVA]
I am thinking EVA02
Asuka&Rei [EVA]
Railgun pair
Kuroko [Railgun]
Uiharu [Railgun]
Ranka [Macross Frontier]
Macross Frontier pair
DRRR!! pair
Kuririn [DB(Z)]
Thriller Bark pair [One Piece]
One Piece group
BASARA group
Kurushitsuji group
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (I guess)
By the way, I saw someone dressed as Hitler inside, but not on the cosplay area, thus two Fuehrers.
Also there was this line with people putting their stuff into boxes and handing it to the guys at the stand --> I am pretty sure they are sending it home this was, a business opportunity well taken, if you ask me.
As I said before, pictures are banned inside, but I came across this spot on my way out, should give you a feeling for what's going on:
Circle hall

Comiket: Day 2
Sneak-peek
After sleeping in I was off to get some more Comiket-experience today and I sneaked some pictures out this time. Being able to use the "ignorant foreigner" once in a while is actually quite handy, especially in an area with next to none English explanations. So, w/o further ado, here are some pictures of the inside:
Ero-boards
Room to move!
The last one was taken quite late in an area where a lot of the booths were already sold out, hence the few people. 50m ahead it was the usual crowd.
To give you an idea of the difference in pure numbers to yesterday, here is the cosplay area in comparison:
Cosplay area - Day 1
Cosplay area - Day 2
Yes, Comiket today was stuffed!
Was there for a while but it was hard to move, not even mentioning taking pictures. The ones I got:
Haruhi group
DRRR!! group
Hebi-hime with her trademark pose [One Piece]
Nami [One Piece]
Yui [K-ON!!]
Naruto pair
Ace [One Piece]
Ace and Sanada Yukimura crossover
Ace - Tatoo redesign? [One Piece]
Brook [One Piece]
Rin - [Kodomo no Jikan]
Captain Jack Sparrow
Yu-Gi-Oh pair
After buying some stuff I left and visited the special exhibition of the Miraikan: How modern technology could realize the tools of Doraemon (a popular robotic cat who helps the protagonist with various tools he brought from the future). They had exhibits on brain analysis, automatic speech translation (Japanese to English, Chinese and Korean --> speech to text), meta-materials and much more. Of course it was designed to be interesting for kids, but the science behind the tools was explained in English and interesting.
One-man helicopter
Adaptive/"learning" robot
Cybersuit
On my way back I came by the Tokyo International Exchange Center Festival 2010, the center being right next to the Miraikan and all. They got a booth for every country their students come from, from Africa to France.
Tokyo International Exchange Center Festival 2010
French booth
Getting there was a real hassle this time, unlike yesterday, with the whole station transformed into a maze to use every inch of ground for lines to the boarding platforms...Took a while, to say the least. Well, it was Saturday, Obon and in the summer holidays, so there were way more people traveling around.
What I didn't expect was this sight on the way back: The line doubled in length and now reached all the way out of the station and filled the plaza there! I heard that there was going to be a Fireworks Festival on Odaiba today, but for it to get so crowded...I was glad to get out there, the journey back to Tama Plaza was quite easy with few people traveling in that direction.
One heck of a line
I won't attend the third and final day of Comiket 78 tomorrow, still got some stuff to do and quite enough of being stuck in a crowd for a while. All in all worth it, however ^^

Culinary: Special meals and sets
Sukiyaki - Overview
Another culinary post, this time about set-meals and some of the more expensive dishes I enjoyed.
I will give you an description and some pictures, so lets get this started:
Oil-Yaki
A DIY-meal where you are served pieces of meat and different vegetables and cook them up in an oiled pan (hence the name). Oil-Yaki goes side by side with Sukiyaki and Shabu Shabu and is pretty much as pricey as them.
The place I went served multiple courses and the first piece of meat was done by a waitress donned in a kimono to show how it's done. Three qualities of meat can be chosen, I went for the one in the middle. Needless to say that it was extremely delicious.
Sweets after lunch
Hors'dourves
Overview
With sides
Fruits after lunch
Oil-Yaki sign and price
By the way, one can save some money by going to expensive restaurants for lunch and not for dinner, there are lunch-specials and discounts pretty much everywhere.
Sukiyaki (Ryokan/Inn dinner)
Sukiyaki - Closeup
Got this at the Turtle Inn in Nikko for dinner, another must-try. Sukiyaki is a pot-dish that cooks up nicely in front of you. This one had lots of veggies at the bottom of the pan and thinly sliced meat on top. You turn the meat once, tip every bite in raw egg (or, if you don't like that part, cook it up in the pan to cover the whole thing) and dig in.
This actually was only a part of the whole meal, there was also fish and some sides.
Sukiyaki - Sides
Ryokan/Inn - Fish
What's left...
Sweets after dinner
Steak/cutlet set
Not really a steak but they called it a Steak Set nevertheless. Not much to say about this one except that the restaurant I ate back then had an interesting mix of Italian, French and Japanese atmosphere.
Steak-set sides
Steak set
Tonkatsu set
Tonkatsu-set
I am pretty sure I already wrote about these, but the set with Miso soup, cabbage and rice and free refills was really nice.
Ramen and Gyoza
Ramen set
These two go together as a classic set and most Ramen-shops serve them both. You enjoy your Ramen and nibble on the Gyoza on the side.
Gyoza and Ramen
Gyoza and ramen set
In Utsunomiya and Gora things are a bit different, as the Gyoza are the main part and the set I had made the Ramen a side-dish. These areas are specialized in Gyoza and offer a wide variety.
Yakiniku
Yakiniku - Gettin' fired up
Similar to Oil-Yaki but still different. Here you order your meat by plate and grill them at your table over flame. The grill is a griddle over an either gas or charcoal fueled flame. There are all kinds of beef and toppings, I had two types one of which had garlic on it. Originally a Korean dish, it is often accompanied by Kimichi.
Also I tried their high-grade beef nigiri. Again, not cheap but incredibly good.
The grill
Dipping sauce (not the beer)
Basic yakiniku
Garlic roast
Beef nigiri
Kimichi
That's if for today, hope you didn't get to hungry reading *g*

Climbing Fuji-san
Mount Fuji, Japan
Me at 8th station
Finally took the time to climb Mt. Fuji, or Fuji-san, (3776m) this week and went for an overnight hike (start in the evening, be at the top at sunrise, descent before lunch). The mountain is divided into 10 stations and road leads up to the 5th one at 2300m, which is the starting point for the usual climbing route.
I took a Highway Bus from Shinjuku in the late afternoon and reached the 5th station of Fuji-san a while after nightfall. Due to the difference in altitude, one is advised to spend about 30mins at this station to get used to it. Altitude sickness is nothing to take lightly after all.
Souvenir shops
Of course there are some souvenir shops here, this station gets the most traffic after all. The wooden sticks you see in front of the shop are worth buying for two reasons: First, having a hiking stick when climbing a mountain doesn't hurt, and second, on every station you will find a guy with a kind of barbecue that will burn the stamp of the station into your stick as proof that you reached there (for 200yen, of course). Makes a nice souvenir.
The wait was also useful to get a look at the area, as I had no idea where to go. After a while I saw a departing group with a leader that looked what she was doing, so I followed them to the next station. Turns out you have to go slightly down from the bus terminal for 20mins before actually starting the climb. From there on it's harder to loose the path than to follow it, so I was alright by myself.
It takes about 4,5 to 5 hours to reach the top from any of the 5th stations, but this can of course vary greatly. When I reached the top a girl phoned pretty much everyone she knew (judging from the length she took) to tell them that she just broke the world record and climbed the mountain in 2,5 hours. I took the usual time.
Did some pictures of the climb, but with it being the middle of the night and all I didn't really get good ones.
Sign
Sign, nearly down
Blurry flights
Going up
There was still a lot of time left till sunrise (at about 5:00 on that day) so I took a look around and rested a bit. Even though it's summer, up there temperatures at night are still near the freezing point. Wasn't pleasant, built a insulated blanked from a thin silk sleeping bag I carried and a foil thermal blanket I carried in my first-aid back (yeah, I took one, paramedic and all...). As time went on more and more people reached the top and searched for the best viewing spot, I could see the lines of little lights as guided groups made their way up in the dark. The wait was definitely worth it, for the sunrise was stunningly beautiful.
Sunrise in the making
First glimpse at unexpected spot
Sunrise
Nearly done
Sunrise done
After getting the stamp of the summit and deciding against circling the crater I started my descend. Took less time, was way more crowded and put a lot of strain on my knees, but what goes up must come down. Was glad for the water and food I brought, the prices at the stations are extremely high and you need LOTS of water to do this.
Summit
Flag of Japan
Gazing down
Crowds...
Summit station
Crater
Going down
Shrine
Viewing up
Beyond the clouds
Bento break
Still that far to go?
Entering the clouds
Construction/repair in progress
Offering rides?
Goal in sight
Souvenir area in daylight
Tired warriors
Did some souvenir shopping back at the 5th station and took the bus home, arrived at Tama Plaza in the afternoon and went to bed early.
All in all an arduous but definitely worthwhile activity, made some good memories and I now have the hiking stick to prove it *g*.
And as the Japanese saying goes: "Everyone is wise to climb Fuji-san once, but a fool to do it twice".
written by  JuergenS on August 18, 2010 from Mount Fuji, Japan

Preview: Yokohama and end of solo traveling
Tomorrow I will visit Yokohama for its Chinatown and Landmark Tower. Also it would be kinda weird to live in Yokohama for a month and never get to its center, no?
Also, starting next Monday I won't be traveling alone anymore, as my girlfriend will finally join me for the last two weeks of this journey. One week in Tokyo, the other in Kyoto and heading back home from Narita, that about sums it up. We will do some things I already wrote about (I will dump some pictures of those, if we take interesting ones) as well as visit places I do not know yet. I will try to keep you updated.

Yokohama
Yokohama, Japan
Chinatown
Just a quick note: Finally got to visit Yokohama today. It is just a half-hour jump from where I live, which by region is actually part of Yokohama, not Tokyo.
The city sports the biggest Chinatown of Japan and this was the first point on my agenda. There are ten colorful gates serving as entrances and the flair of China that is probably the same all over the world. Of course lots of red and blue and many many eateries, from small stalls selling steamed dumplings to high-class restaurants. Ate at a place that was recommended by my Lonely Planet and way more classy on the inside than it appeared to be on the outside, with separate greeting lobby, classical music, huge carvings and all. The food was great, the impact on my wallet too.
Chinatown gate
After some shopping I continued to the bay area and the artificial islands that were constructed there:
Yokohama bay
Yokohama Small Sight?
Spirit of Water
Walked along the harbor and came by this amusement park:
Park attraction
Ferris wheel
Didn't really interest me, had some customers though.
After a while I reached the Landmark Tower, the highest building in Japan and its surroundings. Lots of shops there of course, some performer showing off his skills and a cluster of fast food restaurants.
Landmark Tower
In front of the Landmark Tower
Square deco
Didn't do much more that day, went home after I got my Yokohama-HRC-shirt.
written by  JuergenS on August 20, 2010 from Yokohama, Japan

Azabu Juban Festival
The Azabu Juban Festival was going on in Azabu Juban this weekend, a giant culinary market with lots of foodstuff to try and an international corner as well! Of course I had to take a look/taste.
The first thing I couldn't help to notice were the pure masses of people drifting through the stall-lined streets, navigating here was going to be a pain:
Letting the crowd take me where it would I wandered the area for a while, taking a taste here and there, stopping for a sake seller with samples and a breather.
The food ranged from local specialties of all over Japan to the usual Matsuri fare.
Crepes
Takoyaki
I have no idea what they are selling
Matsuri food
Namahage
Also present were two Nagahame, mystical creatures often impersonated to scare children into obedience if they don't behave at home.
Screaming and crying are pretty much an expected part of this with kids around, with their parents offering a safe haven for then and gaining proper behavior that way. They were more of photo models here though.
The shrine of the area had something going on as well, was too crowded for me to get there though, but the music drifted over.
Azabu Juban Shrine
Being a practical people, the locals took this opportunity to sell some of their stuff as well, a flea-market of sorts formed in the side-streets.
Azabu Juban sees a lot of foreigners with many embassies from all over the world being located there, and so is the Austrian one. Went there to take a look, who knows if I need it someday if loose my passport or something. The operating hours immediately reminded me of home.
Embassy of the Republic of Austria
Feels like home *lol*
Stuffed and packed with potential souvenirs, I left the crowds behind and went home, to prepare for my girlfriend to arrive. She will probably hijack this blog some times, so be prepared for that.

Cultural: Bath houses and onsen
Funaoka-onsen entrance
As Japanese houses are, mostly, pretty small and apartments or rooms for singles even more so (don't get me started on students..), many Japanese don't have their own bath (e.g. shared bathroom with a shower in a guest house or the like). To compensate for this, and provide a means of getting some relaxation in a tub filled with hot water, sentos (bath houses) can be found pretty much in every neighborhood. You pay your fee there and can stay as long as you like.
The procedure is as follows_
You start by taking off all your cloth in the locker area and enter the bathing area only with a small towel and your hygiene products. In there you usually find a wall lined with small plastic seats, mirrors and showers. Head for those. Here you get yourself clean, and I mean really clean. You can do more than just scrubbing yourself semi-raw by the way, I say guys shaving and brushing their teeth, so as long as you get clean, pretty much everything is fine. Use your small towel as a washcloth.
When all the bubbles were washed away, you are ready to enter the baths themselves. Depending on the size of the sento there may be different dimensions, temperatures, tub materials and water properties to choose from. Kusuri (herbal/medical) and electric (yes, with an electric current running through the water) baths may be available as well. You can start at one and try them all, as long as you don't pass out from the heat.
In cases where the water comes from a hot spring, its called an onsen. There are public ones to use just like your regular sento, others however are included in ryokans, traditional lodging houses.
The onsen I recently entered was part of the Turtle Inn and indoors. Outdoor baths (called rotenburo) made of stone or wood are the more popular alternative however, especially in winter. Those are nice, really.
While most bath are separated by gender, there are some onsen offering co-ed bathing. Whether you want that or not, your choice.

Tokyo hopping
Tokyo Tower - Floor window
With Marion having arrived and recovered enough after the long travel we set off to make a big part of Tokyo ours today.
Oh, and with having two cameras at the ready now, expect more pictures of me, and of course of her, than till now in the following posts.
We started early in the morning with the Tsukiji fish market, where fresh seafood of all sizes and colors is sold everyday, the most popular part being the tuna auction in the early hours of the day where gigantic fish change owners to be used in high-class cooking.
Everyone is free to shop at this market of course and fish of this freshness and quality, but most importantly variety, is not easy to come by in most parts of the world.
Tsukiji Fishmarket
These vehicles are driving through the area all the time and can get quite dangerous. Taking kids there is not really recommended. They look pretty fun to drive, though *g*
Tsukiji sushi breakfast/brunch/lunch
Of course a morning at this market has to end with a breakfast/brunch of probably the best sushi in the world, made from fish that still swam freely a short time ago. We went to a small restaurant for this and, if a bit heavy on wasabi, it was of course delicious.
My eating habits changed quite drastically during my trip, the most obvious difference probably being the loss of my ability to eat large quantities without problem (the ones I celebrate with know what I mean), so the set I ordered was a tight fit. On the plus side I lost some weight and build some stamina, and not needing much food shouldn't be a disadvantage for a first-semester student having just come back from a quite expensive country ^^
Nigiri
Makimono
The next stop was Asakusua, the market, temple and Kitchen Town, but I already told you about those.
Senso-ji
As my girlfriend put it, you haven't seen Tokyo if you haven't been to the Tokyo Tower, so that's what we did after the shopping spree in Asakusa.
Standing taller that the Eiffel-Tower, after which its modeled, it offers a nice 360° look of Tokyo on its Observatory platform. Nice to see all the way to places you already have been, e.g. the Rainbow Bridge of Odaiba.
Tokyo Tower
Entrance to Tokyo Tower [chilled]
View from Tokyo Tower
Temple from above
Tokyo Tower mascot
Also in the area is the Hie-jinja, located on a bit of a hill. Unfortunately only a reproduction of the original, but a nice view nevertheless.
Hie-jinja
With hurting feet and a full camera we came back to Tama Plaza for some dearly needed rest.

Imperial Palace and Ghibli Museum
Imperial Palace East Garden
After a good rest and Marion having recovered enough from her sore throat/AC cold, we were of again, this time to see the Imperial Palace of Tokyo and the Ghibli Museum.
The Imperial Palace East Garden is the only part of the Imperial Palace open to the public and offers pleasant walks, a nice garden and massive walls build solely from fitted stone blocks.
Otemon-gate
Imperial Palace East Garden entrance
Rest house
Imperial Palace East Garden wall
Moat
Taking a rest
Dolphin, according to description
Painting the waterfall
Not much more to say about that, except that it was really hot.
After grabbing lunch and visiting Akiba we headed to Mitaka for the famous Ghibli Museum.
In order to visit there one has to make a reservation in advance, which is possible outside from Japan by using travel agencies, inside Japan, however, you are limited to buy tickets at LAWSON convenience stores. Those have terminals installed (called Loppy) that let you buy cinema tickets and make various other reservations, including entering the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. Actually getting them was not quite easy, as I did now how to get them (the LAWSON site has an English explanation), I was however unable to read the error messages displayed. After getting some staff member to read the kanji for me I finally got the tickets, 1000yen each. Had to improvise the time and date, as the originally planned ones where already sold out, but whatever.
After arriving there you get handed a ticket for the in-house cinema showing exclusive short films, the ticket itself being three frames of a film reel of a Ghibli movie. Picture taking is prohibited inside but allowed outside and on top of the rooftop garden.
Ghibli entrance
Group picture!
Laputa
The building is filled with exhibits showing the evolution and creation process of the movies, original sketches and drafts, lots of statues and interior deco that created the illusion of actually being inside the world of Ghibli.
Also a cat-bus for kids to play in/with and of course a souvenir shop.
We had reserved for the 16:00 admittance so it was late afternoon/early evening when we came back.
Visited Hachiko again, for Marion to see him properly.
Hachiko once more
We are going to do some shopping tomorrow and will spend the Saturday in a ryokan in Sarugakyo-Onsen, Gunma, where a fireworks festival is scheduled.

A ryokan experience
Sarugakyo, Japan
Sarugakyo fireworks
Today we traveled to Gunma, for we had a ryokan-reservation at Sarugakyo-Onsen for the night. The ryokan had Onsen-access and was convienently located for the fireworks competition/display ("hanabi taikai") held that night.
We arrived a tad late and called from a station on the way to not loose our room, but everything worked out fine. Taxi from the Jomo Kogen station cost us 5000yen, but was the best choice.
We were shown around the building and got some explanations, everything in Japanese, but we managed.
Our room was on the first floor, here some pictures:
Our room
Table - Center or the room
"Lounge"
Sleeping area
Yukatas
View from the window
Wallscroll
TV area
The notorious toilet slippers
Deco
We had reserved for dinner and breakfast, but did not know exactly what awaited us until we sat down at the dining hall. The food that already was on the table would have easily qualified as a dinner, but the courses just kept coming! Marion had to scoop along the way, and I struggled to finish. We counted 16 (yes sixteen) dishes, everything included, which were as follows:
- Sweet sake/appetizer
- Tsukemono (pickles)
- Seaweed salad + carrots
- White (rice/veggie) gruel
- Crab legs
- Misoyaki
- Wagyu over mushrooms, cooked on the table in a giant leaf on a hot plate
- Local specialty of rice: Cooked with mountain vegetables and herbs as well as mushrooms
- Sashimi
- Fish-on-a-stick ^^
- Peeled tomato (I don't like tomatoes, didn't eat)
- Konjaku + veggie salad
- Tempura
- Soup
- Tsukemono 2
- Fruits
Overview main course
Side plate
Mushroom hot pot
Sashimi
Fish-on-a-stick
Fruits
Dinner - The aftermath [Camera dying]
As you noticed by now, my camera started to break down. After the thousands of pictures I took with it in the last weeks I probably should have anticipated it. Still a shame.
After dinner we forced ourselves up and went to the hanabi taikai, which was much like Silvester at home, only without the cold and on a professional scale. I especially like the picture I used as header.
Bon-odori center
Having returned to the ryokan we entered the onsen (hot springs ftw) and relaxed. Onsen dwelling is great, by the way. Unfortunately the rotemburo was going through maintenance at the time, so only indoor bathing, but still nice.
Originally we wanted to go to sleep early, happened to stumble over Harry Potter in Japanese though and watched the last bit. Pretty much the first time watching TV since leaving home.
Breakfast the next day continued the style of the dinner before, lots of dishes and every single one in a separate bowl, each different in form and color from the rest. Here is the list:
- Miso soup
- Rice
- Green tea
- Salmon fillet
- Sweetened egg
- Konjaku + veggies
- Smoked salmon over salad
- Tofu
- Salad with mountain veggies + herbs
- Minced tuna + wasabi
- Tsukemono
- Sweet red beans
- Dish of flavorings (spring onion, wasabi, herbs)
Filled to the brim we got on the taxi to the station and made our way back to Tokyo for the last night there before going to Kyoto.
written by  JuergenS on August 28, 2010 from Sarugakyo, Japan

Back to Tokyo and Kyoto-Preview
Having returned from Gunma, Marion wanted to see the Harajuku cosplayers and the Meiji-shrine, so that was our next destination.
Happened to be the time for the Super Yosakoi 2010, a festival sponsored by Volkswagen that features massive groups of dancers/performers with impressive music competing for the first place.
Super Yosakoi 2010
Sponsored by VW
Performers resting
The synchronous movements were really impressive and I would have liked to see more of it. Marion was disappointed because there were no cosplayers today, though.
Here a video of a past performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KFap64g4vs
At Yoyogi-park a group of other dancers assembled, living the American spirit or imitating Elvis, I am not sure what they did exactly. They had music running and Twisted and rocked to it. Many of them had tattoos, which is pretty uncommon in Japan, except for Yakuza.
Yoyogi blues?
My camera finally died for good then, pictures from here on were either taken by Marion or by me in the past.
You already know Meiji-shrine, so nothing to talk about here.
Went home, packed and prepared for the next five nights in Kyoto, the last ones of this journey.

Hijacking a Blog 1 [Marion]
So, yes that's me, the girlfriend we're talking about.
I'm Marion, and I made my _first_ flight and long-distance flight from Austria to Narita.
Don't expect any high written art of traveling from me, either in words or photos.
Marion - before flight
I guess my parents were more excited than I appeared to be, so I had a ride with Jürgen's sister.
My flight was ok. The landings are cruel anyway, so I just had to arrange with the small space around me. I am used to this somehow- thanks to Austrian public transport- but this was really small!
Had a chitchat with my neighbor, and then fought myself to sleep- or something like this was my plan. Of course it had to be other way: Couldn't sleep and when I was on the brink to dreamland the flight attendants offered ramen.
So what, I came to Narita quite dead, had to do the formals and find my baggage, and meet Jürgen- somewhere out of this bolted airport area.
Even deader than in Narita I made it to Shibuya- visited Hachiko - and lastly to Tama Plaza.
The next day was a faked Monday to me, because it was already Tuesday, and the day we hopped through Tokyo. (see Jürgen's entries.)
M- geblitz-dingst
Tsukiji Fish market
Tsukiji Fishmarket
The wasabi under this fresh sushi had quite the spirit- had a free nose afterward.
Makimono
Nigiri
Hopping through Tokyo without seeing Tokyo Tower is like you have never been there. Of course we got to the first platform and enjoyed the view over the melting cities.
Entrance to Tokyo Tower [chilled]
M- a golden AND beckoning Hello Kitty?!
In one souvenir shop I found this Golden Maneki Neko Hello Kitty.
During the time I realized that there is nothing without H.Kitty. From toothbrush to boxer shorts, special HK and figures to whole co-products (like Kuromi, Star Twins)- if you look for it, you find it.
Had a hard time finding a way to Hie-jinja, because there was some meeting at the parliament (of course on that day) and the streets were barricaded.
M- stairs to Hie-jinja
M- Hie-jinja
Right after coming home the woes began...
Due to this over-air-coning, my way of saying that the air-conditions are used not cool but to freeze, I caught a sore throat. For recovering we made a lazy day in Tama Plaza, me sleeping the whole day and Jürgen enjoying his book.
On Thursday, which was to me Wednesday, we headed out for the Royal East Garden, commonly known as Royal Palace.
Otemon-gate
Imperial Palace East Garden
Imperial Palace East Garden entrance
After surviving lunch hour which is just as busy as the morning public transport peaks, we made a stop at Akiba (where Jürgen bought the exact figure I had problems with to get for his birthday last year -_-") and then we were on our way for the Ghibli Museum.
Ghibli entrance
Group picture!
Sure there is lot to see, but photographing is not allowed, so we have to keep those images in our memories.
I was quite impressed by the sketches and the coloring Miyazaki provided for his Museum.
Cat bus was attractive, but I was too old... fifteen years at least.
Miyazaki truely deserves the title of "anime no kami", due to his incredible creations and stories. Nonetheless, to my mind, he didn't revolt the scene as much as Tezuka did, creating something totally new (only the technique).
Anyways, I strolled alone to Ikebukuro and Akihabara on Friday.
I missed the glittering and blinking Sunshine 60' and had a hard time finding the so called Otome Road. In the shops I really felt misplaced: though I "like" BL/Yaoi I faced two difficulties: 1) In a series it's ok, but as doujin I can't get into it easily (or something like that I thought) and 2) IT'S IN JAPANESE! With problems deciphering Kana, it will take me years till I get the context (and the magical triangle of semantics&co), where I will have visited Japan even twice.
Left my money on my beloved Copics *^* After recovering from a price shock in Japan I handle my money more freely than ever, including buying Copic Sets and numerous souvenirs.
On Saturday we made our way to the Gunma Prefecture, for a Ryokan class experience.
Sarugakyo fireworks
On the same day fireworks were held, to me it was better than Silvester, because my toes didn't freeze to death, and it was fun watching Japanese doing a traditional dance in great number.
The next day, we returned home, for the last points: Meiji-jingu and Yoyogi Park Cosplayers. My luck brought me the Super Yosakoi 2010, a summer festival with groups performing dances on the stage. Was impressive, too, but no Cosplayers in the narrow sense.
Super Yosakoi 2010
Home again, we packed our belongings and slept for the last time in Tama Plaza.

The pain known as large baggage (or: Back to Kyoto)
We finally arrived at Kyoto, after dragging our baggage through multiple train stations and on a bus. Luckily the owner of our guest House in Tama Plaza gave us a lift to the station there, one problem less to solve. The staff from Fuji is a really nice souvenir, but a pain to transport.
Anyway, we made it and are now in Kyoto. We will probably do not that much you don't already know about, so I will post some culinary/cultural rants and possibly a picture dump.
Another topic that came to relevance is the monetary worth of my souvenirs, especially my cooking knifes, as customs are a hassle. Will probably exceed the 430€ you can bring with you without customs duty. By a lot.
At least the space-problem inside my trunk is pretty much gone, as I sorted everything I won't take back with me anyway out and packed it the way I will travel from here to Narita.
Still some days left, we will try to make them count!
written by  JuergenS on September 1, 2010 from Kyoto, Japan

Cultural&Culinary: Food on the go, shopping and restaurants
Lunch on the go
This time I will give you an extended description of food on the go, meaning while traveling from place to place, where to get it and what else you can do to fill an empty stomach.
First up: The classic, ekiben. Eki meaning station and the ben-part coming from bento (=lunch box), they are boxed lunches especially for the hungry traveler. Different locations feature different contents and meals, often with local specialties and fresh veggies. Sushi is also a regular sight here, as these lunches are freshly made and only sold on the day they are "assembled" anyway --> no fear of getting bad fish.
Ekiben box
And that's how they come
Ekiben content
My first ekiben
Sushi ekiben
Of course there are bakeries and other shops around as well, what's for dinner is up to your imagination.
Fried chicken ekiben
The most basic of all Japanese foods designed to be eaten while traveling or as a quick snack is the onigiri, rice balls a in triangular shape. You can chose from a whole palette of fillings, from salmon to plum to just plain rice and weather they are wrapped in nori or not.
Onigiri
Onigiri guide
As you can see, these have instructions on how to unpack them, and those are needed, as an extra layer of foil prevents the nori from soaking up and becoming soft. Removing this is easy once you know how to do it, but w/o the instructions may take some time.
Oshizushi are sold only in certain parts of Japan and are basically an ancestor of the modern sushi. In the past, fish was preserved using sour rice and packed in leaves, which over time developed into the sushi as we know it. Oshizushi consist of a layer of pressed fish over rice and packed in leaves, making them comfortable to carry around.
Oshizushi - Closed
Oshizushi
Wherever you are, you won't starve in Japan, even if you dismiss all those restaurants around (~ 1 per 80 Japanese) and go for snacks like bread or some dumplings.
Yakimanju@Chinatown
(upgraded) Yakisoba-pan
===========
Even though the bentos and snacks fill you up good, sometimes you just want to go out and grab lunch or dinner at a restaurant, so let's talk about those.
I am just talking about Japanese food here, of course there are Italian, French, Chinese, ... restaurants around, but you know those, no?
The most common form of restaurant is probably the shokudo, recognizable by it's large window with food displayed in it. If you choose something you see there, you can count on the food you get to closely resemble the one outside:
Shokudo window
"But how", you might ask, "are they able to put food in their windows, and not just pictures? Won't it go bad?". The answer is simple: Fake food. You probably won't believe it when you see them the first time, but everything displayed is fake, made from plastic, incredibly detailed and pretty close to art sometimes. These replicas seriously look delicious!
Kappabashi-dori - Fake food
If you are near the Kappabashi-dori in Asakusa you can shop for a bowl of fake-Ramen or some fake sushi, but be warned: The prices are steep.
Aside from the shokudo, which offer a wide range of foods to choose from, specialized restaurants can also be found, be it the common ramen-eateries or the high-class sushi restaurant.
Udon-shop
Sushi windowshopping (Odaiba)
Another type: Izakaya are bar/pub eateries and can be found all over Japan. Here businessman get some beer and chicken skewers before returning home.
The shopping itself (if you don't feel like traveling around or eating out) is pretty much the same as everywhere else, with the exception of the abundance of Convenience Stores, called conbini.
Pretty much every neighborhood has at least one of them nearby and there are many different chains.
Convieniece store
7-eleven
These shops are open 24/7/365 and provide the basic stuff for living: food (see below), hygiene products, sweets, newspapers, ... as well as ATMs and copiers.
The food you can buy here is pretty similar to the ekiben fare, with the addition of warm food. Its common to get your bento warmed up right before you pay (not for sushi, obviously), getting you a hot meal at any time of the day/night. Conbini bentos tend to be a bit cheaper than ekiben, by the way, but you don't get the regional variety.
Conbini bento
Tonkatsu bento
Of course there are drug stores as well, basically the conbini-lineup with a much bigger variety and depth.
Different melon shapes and enormous prices
B1-level of Department Stores are a good place to shop as well, as there are always food shops and eateries around there (for more sophisticated dining head for their restaurant floor). The melons that everyone talks about are there as well: Different shapes and extravagant prices.
So that's about it for preventing starvation, and seeing as my travel is coming to and soon, this will be one of my last posts.
written by  JuergenS on September 3, 2010 from Kyoto, Japan

Cultural: Public Transit
Rail star
Public transit is the obvious way to go for any tourist and the system of Japan is really good. In fact, if a train is late even by a few seconds the conductor is expected to hand in an written apology. Quite different from the trains at home.
The train everyone talks about is of course the Shinkansen, the bullet train. This one comes in different varieties and speeds and is the fastest earthbound way to get from one city to another.
Shinkansen
Of course there are "normal" trains as well, also Limited Express trains, Express trains, overnight trains, ... You name it, they got it.
Finding your platform and train should not pose that much of a problem, even without Japanese, as long as you stay in the major cities, where the announcements are made in English as well as Japanese. If in doubt: Ask someone, you should be able to find some English speaking staff.
Might be problematic in more rural areas.
Train schedule - English
Train schedule - Japanese
Especially made for foreign tourists visiting Japan under the status of "Temporary visitor", the Japan Rail P (JRP) ass is ideal of those hopping from place to place. If enables you to use all JR-lines and all Shinkansen trains except the Nozomi just by showing it. One has to buy it before coming to Japan via a travel agency.
Some trains, especially the Shinkansen and Limited Express ones are divided into reserved and non-reserved seats by a ratio of roughly 2:1. If you have a JRP you can easily get a reserved ticket and board the train, knowing exactly where your seat is.
By the way, the tracks got markings or displays on them, showing you which car will stop where, meaning where you should position yourself to avoid having to search for your seat.
The upper class cars are called "Green cars" in Japan and cannot be used without additional charges by a JRP-holder. Cannot say much about those, didn't use them.
When arriving at it's final destination, the train is cleaned and the doors are barricaded. Just wait till they are done.
In the early hours of the morning, cities like Tokyo offer special "Women only" cars on their trains. Those are limited to the rush-hour when lots of school girls etc. take the train to their destination, the cars can be used by anyone the rest of the day.
One thing I discovered quite recently are the double-decker trains, but you can imagine those.
Also, with the movie in the cinemas and the games coming up, there are trains specially decorated with Pokémon. Didn't notice any difference aside from their outer appearance, the kids love them though.
Pokemon train
Subway and Metro: Not much to say about them, subways are pretty much the same all around the world I guess. Tokyo got a massive system of those and a JR-operated loop line as well.
The cars often feature multiple displays for travel info, CMs and announcing the next stop and can really really stuffed during rush hour.
If in Tokyo the main means of transport is the metro system, it's the city buses in Kyoto.
Kyoto city bus
The tourist information center offers free bus navis, no matter how far you travel inside the city it's a flat rate (220yen) and all the sights can be easily reached by bus, yep, it's pretty nice.
As for the system, you enter the bus by the rear door and leave by the front door. When leaving you put the money in a machine next to driver and get off, that's it.
At the boarding areas one can see weird lines on the floor, these are guides for where to stand in line, and it works! No pushing, no cutting in line, everyone enters calmly and without making a fuss. Of course this is not entirely true, but it's still way better than the mess we get sometimes at home.
Lining up
If you exit the city itself, e.g. by traveling to Arashiyama, you will have to take a ticket out of a machine right when entering the bus. This will have a printed number on it and at the front of the bus a display will mach our number to the prize if you get off at the next stop. Press the button to show the driver you want to get off, get your money ready and drop both your ticket and the exact amount into the slot next to the driver.
As with any form of public transportation (except taxis), you are expected to offer your seat to persons needing it more than you do, especially the elderly, weak, expectant mothers, persons with small children etc.
There are other systems for riding a bus as well, as I learned when I tried the buses in Tama Plaza. Here it's pretty much the opposite from Kyoto: While also a flat rate, you enter by the front door, pay when right then and exit using the middle/rear-door. Caused some confusion when I came from Kyoto.
Highway buses, operated by various companies including JR are a slower, but more scenic way of traveling from place to place and for non-JRP-holders often cheaper. Took one to Mt. Fuji.
Taking a taxi is generally more expensive than public transit for lone travelers, but cannot always be avoided. Also, they are convenient! Note that you never touch a door in Japanese taxis, the driver opens and closes them from the diving seat via a button.
As good as the public transit in Japan may be, problems still occur. I told you about this already, but I got stuck for an hour once due to some problem/accident.
written by  JuergenS on September 3, 2010 from Kyoto, Japan

The end of a journey
Narita, Japan
Travel route
We are preparing to leave Japan now, packing our stuff, calculating customs, deciding what to take and what has to stay behind for other stuff to fit in the trunk, and saying our goodbyes to this country.
Tomorrow we will travel to Narita, where we will spend a night in a hotel before boarding the plane back to Austria on Sunday.
There were times of confusion and slight panic, troubles and worries, but those all seem insignificant now. After all, the good times, the fun, the interesting discoveries and great food will be what we take with us, as well as some life experience and the feeling of having grown a little.
My Japanese got better during these two month, I met lots of people, traveled to lots of places (approx. 7000+km of train travel), got lost sometimes and bought lots of stuff.
For me, traveling (as opposed to holiday) is a thing to do alone, as you can only get a real glimpse of the culture and character of the place you visit by personally confronting it, by doing as the locals do and making mistakes. A second person of your home always is way too big a temptation to speak your own language instead of struggling with the local one, for instance.
To my mind, two month were a good duration for this travel and I wouldn't miss a second of it, but for now it's enough. I probably would need some kind of employment or study to keep me busy. Not for the lack of things to see, mind you, but for the making of a real life, not just a holiday, in Japan.
I will do a proper recap post sometime after reaching home, might take some days though.
written by  JuergenS on September 4, 2010 from Narita, Japan

Safely back home [recap]
Linz, Austria
The end of this traveling road
Hi there, this is the final post of this blog!
Two weeks ago our travel through Japan ended and we returned to our "normal" lives. Since then I moved and started university, organized all those souvenirs and had a fun get-together with friends.
This definitely was a journey I won't forget, so much happened, we visited so many places and I can't even describe the feeling of standing on top of Fuji-san during sunrise.
We looked all over Tokyo from the Tokyo Tower, got surrounded by deer in Nara, tasted the sheer diversity of Japanese cuisine and watched a hanabi taikai in Gunma, nearly got "templed-out" in Kyoto, I rubbed shoulders with thousands of fans at Comiket and experienced the remains of the horror of Hiroshima and the zeal of the locals there.
Too many impressions to summarize properly, so I decided to let pictures tell the story instead.I created a photo-book out of the thousands of photographs I took and ordered it to be printed and sent to me. It didn't arrive yet, but I won't keep you waiting till then, here is a digitizes version. Enjoy.
It was a really fun time, lots of excitement and interesting experiences every day and culinary delights where ever you go. Of course, humans tend to remember only the nice times, and there definitely where unpleasant and frustrating situations, but I feel it all helped me grow a bit, especially language-wise.
Also, I enjoyed my first holiday with Marion, fond memories there!
Its a little sad that it's over already, there definitely are some things I wanted to do but wasn't able to, visit Koya-san and Hokkaido for example, but all in all it was fulfilling and worthwhile time.
That's it, thanks for staying tuned for so long, you can change the channel now.
written by  JuergenS on September 6, 2010 from Linz, Austria

Waiting area in Vienna

My flight

Ekiben - Narita

Inside the N'EX

Security notice

My room, front

My room, side

Yurakusou

Kamogawa

Hello Kitty behind bars?

Kyoto station

Kanazawa station

Crossing

Omicho market entrance

Omicho market

Nagamachi Samurai District

Sake barrels

Decorated shrine near Kenrokuen

Kenrokuen Garden

Vote!

Raptor Jesus?

Things to think about

The Guardians of Buddha

Hall entrance

Eiheiji gate (inside)

Eiheiji hall

Eiheiji gate

Graveyard

Pond decoration

Temple bell

Statue in front of Eiheiji

Conan@Kyoto Station

Hiroshima's Oysters

Itsukushima Shrine

Five-storey Pagoda

Floating Torii

Deer

Great Rice Scoop

Deer sign

Conan all over Miyajima

Sign to youth hostel

Giantic burger

Shrine between modern buildings

Mijashima from afar

Sight from the Museum

Sight from the A-Bomb Dome

Bell of Peace

Bell of Peace sign

Café Mozart

Backen Mozart

Café Restaurant Wien

A-Bomb Dome

Children's Memorial

Cranes folded by Sadako Sasaki

Promenade of Peace

Stag

Shrine

Matsuri stalls

Float

Sparkly stuff for sale

Lottery?

Goldfish scooping

Masks for sale

Byobu Matsuri

Shinsengumi?

The crane dance

Audience in the rain

The musicians

The bell dance

The dancing god

Fighting the demon

The deceiving fox

Destroying the demon

Lit laterns of Yasaka shrine

The god of prosperity

Exorcism

The maiden struggles

Yamata no Orochi devours the maiden

The dance of the snake

Fire elements of the snake

The poison in effect

Fighting Yamata no Orochi

Yamata no Orochi's defeat

Yasaka shrine

Chimaki

Sanmon

Statue along the way to Nanzen-ji Oku-no-in

Nanzen-ji Oku-no-in cave

Nanzen-ji Oku-no-in waterfall

Nanzen-ji Oku-no-in

Along the aqueduct

Aqueduct

Animal statue: Fox

Animal statue: Mouse

Old shrine

Torii

Kimono shop along the way

Singpost for the Path of Philosophy

Ginkaku-ji Garden

Ginkaku-ji

Ginkaku-ji from above

No tripods

Riksha

Entrance to Ginkaku-ji

The Path of Philosophy

Heian-ji Garden

Heian-ji Torii

Heian-ji entrance

Why is that here?

Hair rope

Higashi Hongan-ji

Nishi Hongan-ji

Nishi Hongan-ji entrance

Stamps again

Nishi Hongan-ji bell

Nijo-jo entrance

Carvings on Nijo-jo

Nijo-jo garden

Nijo-jo inner fortifications

Inner castle of Nijo-jo

View from Nijo-jo fortifications

BBQ

Taiyaki

Takoyaki

Burger

Fruits

Beer guys

Ikayaki

Noodle dish

Crepés

Corn-on-the-cob

Frankfurts

Yakisoba

Okonomiyaki

Candy fruits

Kakikoori

Cucumber-on-a-stick

Karaage Chicken

Ninna-ji

Ninna-ji pagoda

Ninna-ji screen paintings

Ninna-ji garden

Miniature of dry garden

Dry garden of Ryoan-ji

Sign

Garden of Ryoan-ji

Kinkaku-ji

Crane

Wishing well or bad aim?

Funaoka-onsen entrance

Kinkaku-ji garden

Pontocho

Shrine inside shopping arcade

Arashiyama

Tenryu-ji screen paintings

Tenryu-ji

Tenryu-ji dry garden

Arashiyama bamboo forest

Adopted child?

Bamboo grafiti?

Statues

Monkey Mountain map

Monkey quiz

Danger sign

My first monkey

Monkey on a slide

Gret view

Snack time

Monkeys drinking

Monkey kid

Monkey kids

Hand print

Emergeny button

Yeah...right

Sanjusangendo

Surrounding wall of Sanjusangendo

Nishiki market

100yen shop

Woman walking dog, or vice versa?

Torii on buildings

Geisha district

Maiko/Geisha

Yurakuso sake bar

Giant Apple

Fukui's Sauce Katsudon

Hiroshima's Okonomiyaki

Katsudon

Tempuradon

Hamburg steak

Noodle bowl

Kyoto's Okonomiyaki

Deer and senbei-seller

Stalking stag

Isui-en

Moveset of the common deer

Herd of school kids

Many deer, many droppings

Nara-koen

Nandai-mon

Stag with twisted horns

Me with deer

Daibutsu-den Hall

Daibutsu

Fund raising

Nostril-size hole

Warning of terror birds

Nara mascots

Summer curry

Osaka aquarium

Manta greeting

Aquarium crowd

Penguin

Dolphin with child

Manta

Spiral fish

Turtle posing

Subway

Crabs

KFC

Bukkake, in MY food?

Comedian and performer

Shopping arcade

Maneki-neko

Fake food

Street light

Yukatas - Asorted colors

Tenjin Matsuri

Yukatas everywhere

Interesting fashion choice

Tenjin Matsuri - Boat

All set for serios planning

Tonkatsu set

Outer shrine - Entrance

Outer shrine - Main building

Outer shrine - Pond

Outer shrine - Sub-building

Inner shrine - Entrance

Inner shrine

Inner shrine - Park

Inner shrine - Gate

Bridge construction

Inner shrine - Sub-building

Massive tree

Inner shrine - Main building

Narnia?

Inner shrine pond

Koi

Inari shrine - Starting point

More torii

Light at the end of the tunnel

Heavy-light stones

Remains of torii

Torii of Inari

Fox with questionable fashion sense

Torii in the forest

Small torii on sale

And torii again

Inari

Well, water's hard to come by on top of a mountain...

Fox statue

Reached the top

And down we go again

Lots of torii and statues

Outlook from halfway up

Inari pond

Kitano Tenman-gu market

Kitano Tenman-gu

Kitano Tenman-gu - Umeboshi

Kitano Tenman-gu market- Games

Kitano Tenman-gu market- Armor and weapons

Seimei shrine

Horikawa - Strolling and relaxation area

Seimei shrine - Golden peach

Kamigamo - Foxes

Kamigamo - Construction

Kamigamo - Statues

Kamigamo - Monkey warning

Kamigamo - Mountains

Kamigamo - Torii

Kamigamo - Dragon

Kamigamo deko - Water children?

Kamigamo deko

Kamigamo park

Pagoda

Temple

Iimura - Everchanging lunches

Old Government Building

Imperial Palace Map

Imperial Palace Park

Imperial Palace Garden

My new room - Back

My new room - Side

My new room - Fridge and table

My new room - Bedding

The corridor (floor 1)

Quiet neighborhood

The Tokyu department store near the station

Chanel House - Front (nightview)

My new room - Front

Stuck at Tama Plaza

Shibuya crossing

Shibuya

Hachiko

Shibuya station

Disney store

Collecting Pokémon

Shibuya 109

Handing out drinks

Radio Kaikan

Lifesize Rei in yukata

Manga

F*ck ad (yes, it's a magazine)

Manga/Doujin border

Akihabara

Maids

Mouse pads

Gashopons

Cosplay in front of a sex shop

Way to save money...

Game store

Another maid

Iced coffee@Maid café

Maid café ad

Me

Gora station

Cable car

Gondola from below

Warning sign

Hiking up

Gondola station

Owakudani

Kurotamago

Kurotamago - Inside

Kurotamago kitty

Onsen sign

Yes, it's a brewey

Kaminarimon

Nakamise-dori

Swords for sale

Senso-ji

Giant sandal

Pigeon statue

Anyone got an okarina handy?

Temples need public phones too, apparently

Nearby shrine

Temple construction going on

Kappa doll

Kappa tile

Coffee equipment

Bowls

Furniture

Anyone wants to create their own Chinatown?

Giant bug on the wall

Pans and woks

Food imitations shop

Food imitations

Shin-Kyo entrance

Shin-Kyo

Turtle Inn

Nikko Imperial Villa

Imperial Villa billiard room

Taiyuin-Byo entrance

Imperial Villa garden

Taiyuin-Byo

Taiyuin-Byo guardians

Fujin

Raijin

Guardian deity

Futarasan-jinja sacred spring

Futarasan-jinja

Futarasan-jinja torii

Jizos

Gamman-Ga-Fuchi Abyss

Jizo w/o head

Gone Jinzo

Complete Jizo

Bake-Jizo, I guess

Akechi-daira ropeway

Ropeway-station from above

Hiking trail

View to the lake and fall

Kegon-no-taki

Chuzenji-ko lake

Chuzenji-ko swans

Tosho-gu elephants, I think

Famous three monkeys

Tosho-gu monkeys

More monkeys

Tosho-gu entrance

Tosho-gu gate

Tosho-gu

Tosho-gu elephant?

Tosho-gu carvings

Way to Ieyasu's tomb

Ieyasu's tomb

"normal" toilet

Western-style toilet

Toilet sign at a shrine

Paper vendor

Western-style sign

User guide

Trail toilet

Japanese toilet

Turtle Inn bath

Cleaning area

Pokemon train

Train boarding

Bus ticket

Priority seats

Lining up

Boarding area

Kyoto city bus

Shinkansen

Green car sign

Rail star

Train schedule - Japanese

Train schedule - English

Cleaning in progress

My first ekiben

Oshizushi

Oshizushi - Closed

Conbini bento

Lunch on the go

Tonkatsu bento

Onigiri

Onigiri guide

Convieniece store

Drug store

Shokudo window

Udon-shop

Kappabashi-dori - Fake food

Fried chicken ekiben

Steak-set sides

Tonkatsu-set

Steak set

Ramen set

Gyoza and ramen set

Sweets after lunch

Hors'dourves

Overview

Oil-Yaki

With sides

Fruits after lunch

Oil-Yaki sign and price

Sukiyaki - Overview

Sukiyaki - Sides

Sukiyaki - Closeup

Ryokan/Inn - Fish

What's left...

Sweets after dinner

Sushi ekiben

Reserved Seat tickets

Japan Rail Pass

Passing harajuku girls

Yoyogi park

Yoyogi musician

Nearby stadium

Yoyogi park entrance

Meiji shrine wine

Meiji shrine

Yoyogi park map

Harajuku girls

TV interview

Group picture

The madness from above

Ikebukuro

Animate

Roppongi

Hard Rock Cafe Roppongi

King Kong@HRC

Sunshine 60

Dipping sauce (not the beer)

The grill

Basic yakiniku

Beef nigiri

Yakiniku - Gettin' fired up

Kimichi

Garlic roast

Lights from afar

Entrance

Illuminated bamboo with wishes

Main grove?

Floating LEDs

Chimes

Grove and floating LEDs

Bamboo deco

Fabric and lights

Start of the fabric

(upgraded) Yakisoba-pan

Austria ^^

Sushi windowshopping (Odaiba)

Tokyo Big Sight

Outlook from Big Sight

Conbini prep

Comiket catalogues

Harbour cruise anyone?

Constellations

Constellation

Odaiba

Red Bull ad car

Rainbow Bridge

Aqua city

Statue of Liberty

JUMP shop

Chopper - Overview

Muscle Park

Zoom on nose

Indoor theme park

Flame of Liberty

Mobile robot

LEGO Mindstorm

LCD globe

Miraikan - Tech area

My heat image

Miraikan

Museum of Maritime Science

Edward "Whitebeard" Newgate

Circle hall

Shipping your stuff home

Kuririn [DB(Z)]

Macross Frontier pair

DRRR!! pair

Ranka [Macross Frontier]

Asuka&Rei [EVA]

Mugi&Mio [K-ON!!]

Street Fighter

Mari [EVA]

One Piece group

Railgun pair

I am thinking EVA02

Summer Wars group

Nara mascot

Thriller Bark pair [One Piece]

Romance of the Three Kingdoms (I guess)

BASARA group

Fuehrer (the second one of the day)

Kuroko [Railgun]

Mario

Angel Beats pair

Kurushitsuji group

Uiharu [Railgun]

Miraikan-line

Entering - Riding the masses

Sailor scouts

Miraikan - line end

Station madness

Sneak-peek

Ero-boards

Rin - [Kodomo no Jikan]

Haruhi group

Ace [One Piece]

Ace and Sanada Yukimura crossover

DRRR!! group

Yui [K-ON!!]

Hebi-hime with her trademark pose [One Piece]

Naruto pair

Nami [One Piece]

Ace - Tatoo redesign? [One Piece]

Brook [One Piece]

Captain Jack Sparrow

Yu-Gi-Oh pair

Room to move!

Adaptive/"learning" robot

One-man helicopter

Cybersuit

Tokyo International Exchange Center Festival 2010

French booth

One heck of a line

Different melon shapes and enormous prices

Souvenir shops

Blurry flights

Me at 8th station

Going up

Sign, nearly down

Sunrise in the making

First glimpse at unexpected spot

Sunrise

Nearly done

Gazing down

Summit

Crater

Crowds...

Flag of Japan

Summit station

Going down

Sunrise done

Viewing up

Beyond the clouds

Bento break

Still that far to go?

Entering the clouds

Construction/repair in progress

Offering rides?

Goal in sight

Souvenir area in daylight

Tired warriors

Poodle bus (Highway)

Highway bus

Chinatown

Chinatown gate

Yokohama bay

Spirit of Water

Yokohama Small Sight?

Landmark Tower

Park attraction

Square deco

In front of the Landmark Tower

Azabu Juban Festival

Namahage

Embassy of the Republic of Austria

Feels like home *lol*

Crepes

I have no idea what they are selling

Flea Market going on

Azabu Juban Shrine

Tokyo Metro Lines

Tsukiji Fishmarket

Nigiri

Makimono

Tokyo Tower

Entrance to Tokyo Tower [chilled]

Tokyo Tower mascot

View from Tokyo Tower

Temple from above

Tokyo Tower - Floor window

Hie-jinja

Marion - before flight

M- Now we have more fotos!

M- Giant Lampion

M- backside

M- Pagoda

M- a giant sandal

M- Pigeon Memorial

M- Signs along Kappabashi dôri

M- delicious forged food

M- strange things

M- the golden Kappa

M- even more strange things

M- oh no, fugo fish, swimm away,fugo fish, swimm away!

M- geblitz-dingst

M- Tokyo Tower, what else?

M- more fotos!

M- our home base, somewhere in this direction

M- a golden AND beckoning Hello Kitty?!

M- stairs to Hie-jinja

M- Hie-jinja

M- Hie-Shrine

M- Chickens at the Shrine?

M- a lazy day / recovering

Otemon-gate

Moat

Imperial Palace East Garden entrance

Dolphin, according to description

Imperial Palace East Garden

Taking a rest

Rest house

Painting the waterfall

Imperial Palace East Garden wall

Ghibli entrance

Group picture!

Laputa

Hachiko once more

Sponsored by VW

Super Yosakoi 2010

Performers resting

Yoyogi blues?

Doubledecker train

Ekiben content

Ekiben box

"Lounge"

Table - Center or the room

Sleeping area

Yukatas

Wallscroll

TV area

Deco

Side plate

Overview main course

Mushroom hot pot

Sashimi

Fish-on-a-stick

Sarugakyo fireworks

Dinner - The aftermath [Camera dying]

Bon-odori center

And that's how they come

One small part of Akihabara

Travel route