Episode 26: Mounting the mountain

Konbanwa Mina-san!!! (Konbanwa = good evening)

So, just a quick update instead of a full blog posting, as it's 11:15 at night, and Laura and I didn't sleep last night. The reason, you ask? Well, we climbed the biggest piece of rock in Japan, a big ol' sweet mountain man, the one and only Fuji-san! Anyway, this is what dawn looks like from the highest point in Japan. (Almost 4km above sea level.)

More to come, but we're too tired to post tonight, and we're off to Kyoto tomorrow morning... followed by a few other destinations. Yosha!!!

-benjamin & Laura

Episode 25: Bullet train with butterfly wings

Konnichi-wa Mina-san!!!


Ben: "Well, that was a disappointment and a half. So get this, Laura and I got up at about 5:20am in order to have enough time to make it out to this fabled Tsukiji fish market, which is potentially the largest fresh fish market in the world. Basically, they serve up some crazy fresh and delcious fish between the hours of dawn and maybe 8am to people, restaurants and anyone cool enough to be up that early. Unfortunately for us it just wasn't in the cards."

Laura: "Obon is a three-day period when people celebrate their ancestors. Lots of people get this time off work, so a lot of stuff is closed. Obon this year was August 13-16, and we went to Tsujiki on the 17th -- apparently since they hadn't been out fishing the day before, there was nothing to sell on the 17th. It reallly sucked-- I was looking forward to eating some really fresh and delicious sushi! Oh well. We went to a corner store and bought breakfast there instead. FYI, the prepared food at corner stores here beats the pants off of anything you buy at 7-11 back home. It's better for you, and pretty tasty. I got a couple onigiri- triangles of rice full of various kinds of fish wrapped in seaweed. Maybe not for everyone, but I really like them. After that, we had to find something to do in the area so that our early morning trek wasn't a complete waste."

Ben: "We decided to hit up the Emperor's walking gardens about a twenty minute walk away from the empty Tsukiji market. It was actually closed when we arrived there, seeing how we were still so early, but we just chilled out for about a half-hour in the shade by the parking lot. After getting into the gardens, we were pretty happy to be there. It's really actually quite cool to be in a big space that is simply some trees and grass, a few flowers, and a few really old walk-ways while being fully enclosed in a huge urban city-space. I know I've remarked on the odd dichotomy of huge city space and super-calm, traditional park/temple spaces here in Japan, but when you're in Tokyo... it's just, well, remarkable."

Laura: "I'll second that emotion. Japan, especially urban Japan, is such a weird mix tradition and modernity-- there's literally temples smack dab in the middle of huge shopping centres. After the garden, we hit up Subway. I got a shrimp and avocado sub with miso/soy sauce, it was really good. We checked out of the hotel, then made our way to our mode of transportation from Tokyo to Nagoya: the fabled Shinkansen."

Ben: "With it's shiny big nose, long sleek body, and agility of a puma, the Shinkansen, is the sweetest ride in the East. Just look at it's glorious train-i-ness. Still, despite it's outward appearance, and accessibility, it isn't cheap. Basically, the one way trip from Nagoya to Tokyo weighs in at about $110 CND. It doesn't actually feel like too long a trip (it's only about 1.5hrs) but some of our fellow train-riders still managed to grab a few beers or shots in order to fall asleep for the ride. Laura even managed to get a nice pic of the guy who was sitting beside us totally asleep. It is included here for your amusement.

Laura: "This old sleepy man and I pretty much became best buds...we were pretty entertained by his various sleeping poses. The bullet train was pricey, but I think it's worth it to say you rode on a bullet train. They go about 300 km/hour!
We took the train to Nagoya, then caught another train to Tsu, the city where Ben lives. It was nice to finally get to home base!

The next episode will detail our travels in Nagoya! Here's a hint: it will feature both fleas (of the market variety) and robots. Until then!

-Benjamin and Laura

Episode 24: Tokyo Disneyland, a rollercoaster of emotion

Konnichiwa mina-san!!!

Ben: "Holy shnikes, this is our trip to Disneyland, in a nutshell. That's right, you heard it right here, we went to that magical land where time ebbs and flows like the drifting sands of the Sahara, and old age becomes youth at the drop of a hat. Even those big hats that cowboys wear."

Laura: "In regular people speak, that means that the day lasted FOREVER. We left our hotel at at 7:00 am on a magical shuttle that took us straight to Disney. We got there at about 7:30, and in true Japanese fashion waited in a huge line to get our tickets, then another, separate huge line to enter the park. We booked it straight to Space Mountain, and were rewarded with a very short wait for the most popular ride in the park."

Ben: "After our trek into space, we made our way over to the dinky rides. You know, those little kiddy type rides that most adults don't really want to ride on, but then after they wait and get on the ride, they're always shocked at how much fun it actually was, and then they won't shut up about how much fun they had? Yeah, well those are the ones we hit up. Basically there was this little airplane ride thing that went around in circles (made by JAL), and some other little ones. Afterwards, we decided to celebrate with a mean spicy chicken wrap from a food stand. To our surprise, the price wasn't so jacked up that you had to mortgage your first born child to be able to afford it.

Laura: "It was at this point that the reality of Tokyo Disneyland began to reveal itself. Up until it had been all fun and games --- not anymore. First of all, the crazy heat began to sap our (or at least my) energy. It was over 40 degrees that day, probably 41 or 42 around lunchtime. The sun was intense, there weren't many places to sit, and pavement everywhere. I asked Ben what time it was totally expecting him to say "It's 2:00" - it had just turned 11:00. I couldn't believe that we had 9 more hours to go. But we solidered on, conquering the Honey I Shrunk the kids 3-D adventure and a few other not-so-popular rides, mainly because the lineups were starting to get ridiculous."

Ben: "That's fact. Thunder Mountain, for one, was 'down for repairs' and once it opened, there was literally a three hour wait to get on that ride. Big Thumbs Down! Suffice to say, at that point in the day, we had neither the will nor the time to squander on such short winded entertainment. Instead, we took a train ride around the park, one that took us into the Canadian Wilderness to see some native Canadians, and also some natural wild-life (pronounced "anamatronic deer and people." That ride was a short break, and it luckily took us away from the wicked-crowded Japanese line-ups. I'm being totally honest here when I say there were no less than 30,000 people, I wouldn't be surprised at numbers as high as 50,000 or more. It was crazy... and I mean crazy in the full sense of the word."

Laura: "We also went on a crappy river cruise to Tom Sawyer's island-- it lasted literally 30 seconds. But the day wasn't all disappointment. There were some cheesy, but really fun parades of all the Disney characters. The pixar float was the best, mainly because Sully (the big blue monster from Monsters, Inc.) looked like he was telling the crowd to "Suck It!" (look at the picture and you'll see what I mean).We went on a fun Buzz Lightyear ride where you got to shoot bad guys with a laser gun. Also, at the end of the day we went on Splash Mountain, which was totally worth the wait.

Another highlight of the day was the 'It's a Smal World' ride -- if you've never been on it, it's as creepy as you think it is. Think hundreds of tiny animatronic robots that look like little kids singing "it's a small world" in creepy robot voices. Oddly, North America was completely left out of the ride - no Canada or United States! I mean come on, even Finland was represented! The heat was a killer and the crowds got to be kind of suffocating, but Tokyo Disneyland was ultimately a pretty fun place to be."

Ben:"True. We had a wicked time, and it felt so good to get home after a long day, and just have a nice cold-shower, while relaxing at the hotel. Our feet were pretty sore, but you know that good feeling you get when you get home after a long day skating and take off your skates and put your feet up? Yeah, well it was kinda like that. Oh, and to top it all off, we finished off some of the delicious strawberry white cake we got from Tomo, and watched some Japanese television on our 40" flatscreen. Hilarious."

The next day promised exciting fun at the Tsukiji fish market, as well as our long trek home to Mie-ken. Until then,

matane,

-benjamin & laura


p.s. Ben: "In "Western Land" we went to a shooting range, where you had a lazer rifle, and you could pay money to shoot at things in a bar. If, and only if, you managed to hit 10 targets out of your 10 shots, then Goofy told you that you rocked out harder than a drunk Japanese salaryman at a 2am Karaoke session. To reward you, he would give you a sheriff badge. Well guess who rocked out that game? Watashi!!! (me!)

Laura: "I didn't hit any of them :-( "

Episode 23: Lovers in a Dangerous time

Konnichiwa mina-san!!!

Ben: "SO, the day has come and gone. Yes, the one day, that one special day where my lady friend made her way across the world to meet me here in this strange and cool land known as Japan. Suffice to say, 'I'm elated' doesn't cut it."

Laura: "My flight was pretty good. I sat next to a woman who was a professor of Women's Studies at a college in northern Japan, so we had some stuff to talk about. She thought I was Korean....weird. We made it to Japan in about 12 and a half hours, which seemed like record time (there was no stopover). And of course it was great to see Ben waiting for me outside the terminal with this sweet homemade sign:


Ben: "So, then we made our way out to the hotel in Daiba, via the Airport shuttle, and for a paltry fee, we ended up getting the whole bus to ourselves! I personally couldn't have wanted any more personal space, seeing how the airport in Tokyo is, well, in a word, packed. Anywho, stupid me somehow lost my luggage ticket stub when we were getting off, and if it weren't for the fact that it was just the two of us, it might have been a problem getting my luggage from the bus-man. He was a douche (the bus man.) Anywho, here's a sweet pic of us sitting on a bus. Sweet."

Laura: "Then we arrived at our palatial hotel, 'Le Meridien Grand Pacific' right on Tokyo Bay in Daiba (a district in Tokyo). Ben's motto for hotels must be "go big or go home", because it was actually the largest hotel in Tokyo. Our room was great, and the air conditioning was even better. We would have gone swimming, but to get into the pool was about $20 per person- no thank you! Our room was on the 25th floor, so we had a great view of Tokyo Bay and the Rainbow bridge. On our first night there, Ben's friend Tomo sent a cake and some champagne to our room, which was lovely and very sweet. Thanks again, Tomo!"



Ben: "In case you were wondering, the hotel was a little expensive, but you can find cheaper accommodation quite readily within most districts of Tokyo. So no worries, you don't have to bust the bank just staying in Tokyo. And if you male, single, and with forty bucks, you can always sleep in a capsule hotel room. Righto, so now let's get on track with traveling throughout Tokyo in a flash... (Those two icing cookies say the following: "Happy birthday Ben!" and "Welcome to Japan Laura")



We got ourselves up and made our way out to Asakusa pretty early in the day, maybe 8ish? And we tackled the reputable giant of the Tokyo subway system. Despite what you may think, it was actually quite manageable , and we didn't have too many problems the entire time... well at least, I don't think we did :)"

Laura: "I don't think we did either! There were a few times when we were a bit confused... and the hot weather and crowds can make me a bit of a cranky muffin....but overall I think we did quite well. Asaksa is a traditional marketplace, and there is a temple there as well. There was a large variety of goods available for really good prices, so I got some cool souvenirs for some lucky people. We had lunch there, and I had my first bowl of authentic Japanese ramen, which was delicious."

Ben: "Asakusa is a totally touristy place, so we weren't really surprised by all the other Gaikokoujin (foreigners) hanging around. Oh, it's about this time that I want to mention the heat. There were record highs in Tokyo and the surrounding areas for the past few days, upwards of 43 degrees, and we had to take a lot of breaks for refreshment. If we didn't, we'd be walking husks of dried nori. (seaweed)."

Laura: "The heat is pretty killer. Unfortunately, every day I've experienced a period of heat-induced nausea...it goes away with some water and rest, but I've seriously never been in such hot weather before. Every day it's been about 37-40 degrees without taking the humidity into consideration. Japan is having a heatwave! In the Tokyo area about 10 people have died from heatstroke in the past week. But don't worry about us, we're young and vigorous.
Immediately after Asakusa, we went to the Ginza district to do some window shopping-- because that's the only kind of shopping we could afford there. Think Luis Vuitton, Prada, all the major designers. It's right up there with Paris and New York as a major fashion capitol. We walked around for about an hour, then caught the subway back to our hotel.

Ben: "Ginza wasn't as fun as I remember it. Still, it was a cool place to burn your money. Anywho, after we made our way back to our nicely air-conditioned hotel room, took a quick bath in our marble bathroom, and chilled out for a bit, we decided to hit the sack early... we had to get up extra early in order to catch our shuttle bus to DISNEYLAND TOKYO!!! Pretty flippin' awesome if you ask me. But, we had a bit of an early wake-up call... in the form of a minor Earthquake that shook the room a bit. Laura woke up and said 'hey Ben, what's that?' and I was like 'shit son, we be dead.' (translation = 'yes, that's an earthquake.') No worries though, everyone was A-ok.

Alright, before we turn this into a novel, we'll finish'er off, and say that the next update will detail our trip to Disneyland Tokyo. It should be up soon.

ja matane,

-benjamin & laura





p.s. Here's a video of Laura eating a Japanese Pickle! Totally worth the 50 seconds it'll take to watch it.



p.p.s. Kusai!!!

Episode 22: A Sneek Peek(er chup)

Konnichiwa Mina-san! Genki?

So, just a few more little developments going on in my life that I want to brush up on: So check it out! It's coming at you like a Spider Monkey.


Okay, so my last Japanese lesson on Monday went quite well. I felt like Tomo-san had a bit more preparation going on, and though we were covering a topic that I had already covered before, this time we expanded on it to include more variations. Anywho, though that was all fine and dandy, and I did learn how to say some things in a pretty casual fashion, I was more impressed by the fact that I finally started writing in Japanese! YOSHA!!! Honto-ni, it's been really cool to be able to actually fashion my sentences out of Hiragana, Katakana, and even the odd Kanji. Now, working in the Kanji seems most impressive to me, but it all seems really cool. I mean, I figured that after about six months, I should be writing in the Japanese alphabet, but it's just so cool once it actually starts happeneing. It's like learning how to ride a bike for the first time. You just get this great feeling inside, like you've finally accomplished something that's a pretty crucial step in life. (Okay, not that most people need to learn how to write in Japanese, but still...)

Anywho, Tomo-kun also bought a text-book for me up in Nagoya. My morning thusfar has been filled with studying Japanese, drinking some Tim Horton's Coffee, and of course, relaxing to some tunes on my luscious laptop. This Laptop has been great btw, and I know that I often go ahead and plug that I've recently become a Mac user, but seriously, once you go Mac you'll never go back. They're sexy machines, and they've recently become a lot more affordable to the average person who wants a cool laptop. Check out the site. Also, if you're a university student, you can get a free ipod if you buy one right now. Pretty sick.

The MOST exciting thing going on right now is the promise of Laura's arrival here in Japan. I kinda want to post our temporary itinerary online here, but I don't really want to wreck the surprise... ah well, here goes nothing:

August 14-17: Tokyo
August 18-19: Mie-ken
August 20: Day trip to Nara
August 21-23: Ise, Nagoya, and Iga
August 24-25: Climbing Mt. Fuji
August 26-29: Kyoto for 2 days, Hiroshima, Himeji, and Osaka.
August 30: Chill
August 31: Baii baii Laura. :(

Obviously I haven't listed all the details here, but that's because you're gonna have to stay tuned and check out the nigh daily updates that we'll be posting over this time-line. Be on the look-out for the key moments, like the Peace Memorial, Disneyland Tokyo, Himeji Castle, and Tsukiji fish market!

Alright, I'm done my break, and I'm gonna head back into doing my studying before work. There's still so much to learn... life is study....

-ja mattane,

-benjamin

Nothing gets me hungry like cream filled colon. Mmmmm... now a snack you can enjoy at any time of the day!






I love this picture! I can't believe that the Japanese have managed to do the impossible, and place God in a can of coffee!!! It tastes divine... (okay, sorry, that was a bad one...)



Nothing can wash down God Coffee like a nice cold bottle of... Tap water?! Hahahahaha.