Travel Diary

2007-02-11T18:55:00.000+10:00

We spent most of Saturday prancing (yes, we literally pranced) around Omote-Sande/Harajuku, which fast becoming one of my favourite spots in Tokyo.

Street bands in Harajuku; not always talented but seldom unentertaining. At one point, the bleach-headed boy lay on the ground and kicked his feet around in the air for a good 10 seconds while screaming (singing).

But the best part of the day by far:

I don't know if you could muster up the strength to resist free hugs from a smelly-looking Japanese stranger (whose gender was something of a mystery), but I certainly could not.

This thing (later determined as monkey) jumped out as us while we were wandering down the street in Omoto-Sande. The owner let me pet it, and unlike the "monkey"/ large, fanged baboon-monster at Arashiyama, this one did not attack me. So maybe sneaking up behind the Arashiyama thing did provoke it after all.

More later!

2007-02-04T17:55:00.000+10:00

Pallette Town is a Roman-themed indoor shopping mall in Tokyo, complete with a fake sky (that changes from night to day), an enormous fountain and hundreds of little individually themed shops. We love it, and it's kitschy kitschness.

2007-02-01T12:35:00.000+10:00

There are deer in Nara

it is wonderful

2007-01-20T20:15:00.000+10:00

This afternoon was the coldest day we've had yet this winter (there were snow predictions). We decided to wander. With icecream.

~ ~ ~

They left the house in marshmellow attire.

Joelle couldn't find her other glove so she improvised with a pair of socks.

It was so cold their breath went puffy.

They walked up some stairs.

And some more.

They found scary places.

And were freaked out.

Joelle had an idea.

It proved to be a stupid one.

Eventually she got tired.

And they both went home.

2007-01-16T23:39:00.000+10:00

Around christmas, Akira and I managed to stumble across a free, street-side concert in Shinjuku on one of our wanderings. It turned out to be some famous Japanese musician/singer - the crowd was enormous.

2007-01-16T21:42:00.000+10:00

We haven't had internet access in ages because it died completely unexpectedly.
Or I killed it.
Maybe.

We're leaving Chiba for Kyoto soon (yippee).
Staying about 10 days.

suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuushi

JOELLE ATE SNAIL.
She was not happy.

Chiba city at night.
And bicycles.
Lots of bicycles.

The ocean at Yokohama.

View of Mount Fuji at Yokohama.

View of Mount Fuji from near Lisa's home (at Fujisawa).

Yokohama.

Lisa, Nana - Yokohama

Yokohama - New Years Day

Yokohama - New Years Day

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yokohama - Paul and Eiko's (grandma and grandpa) old house：

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Around Hatsue's home; where we live.

Hatsue's house.

2006-12-31T12:03:00.000+10:00

Christmas was good, but not very christmas-Y.
We hung out in Harajuku, then Shibuya until late.

!!!!!!ATTENTION MALCOLM!!!!!!
Do NOT watch these videos on your computer, they are very large files and will eat up all of your bandwidth ("downloads") and may cost you $$$. So best to watch them at Kerry's house, or something. They aren't particularly interesting, anyway.

...

2006-12-22T14:51:00.000+10:00

We are staying in Asakusa, Tokyo at the moment (on our own!).

Perhaps we bordered on SLIGHTLY immature on our arrival.

~~

FLAMINGOS!!

We also saw a giant panda .. it was sleeping and not particularly exciting overall.

2006-12-21T18:38:00.000+10:00

we're in a cyber cafe place
Its soooooooo suss..

its like this Huuuge dark set of corridors with little sectioned off rooms
and heaps of computer games and movies to rent and watch, or internet
and theres all these "private rooms" with reclining seats..

we went to this little restaurant for dinner. tiny. but we were the only people not smoking while we ate dinner

and the guy next to me is smoking too
playing some game

Pretty skanky.

Oh and we went to the zoo and the national science museum
and saw some famous girl singing on the street. there was a huuuge crowd screaming and holding their cameraphones up in the air to get pics. It was hilarious.

2006-12-17T01:13:00.000+10:00

We went to Ueno, Akihabara, Ginza etc. I bought a Canon Powershot - much thanks to Doug for all the help.

Ueno temple/ market street.

Joelle & Doug at a Ueno temple.
100 yen fortune.

Ueno.

Akira - ha ha ha.

Joelle.　Some　island park whose name I forget (originally built as the emperor's personal hunting ground).

whee !!

Joeeeeelle.

Nifty trees.

Aki and Doug striking the ever-popular Japanese tourist pose. Haha!

2006-12-13T22:16:00.000+10:00

i went for a meeting with the boss guy today
It was kinda scary~ he was all dressed up in a dark suit and sitting in a
big leather chair smoking and talking very seriously and quiet.
Intimidating.. but afterward his wife talked to us and shes cool so it was
better.
He saaaid.. he has had several people in the past for this job but they get
married and have children and have to leave and its really bad for the
company etc. Aaaaaand so they need a totally committed person. If i dont
finish my work that day, then i do it the next day and maybe come to work on
the weekend. 8:30 to 5:30. He didnt tell me how much pay was but that it was
quite good and it will get increasingly more over the years..
Also that if its required i might get an apartment closer to work and the
company will pay maybe %30 of the cost. He wants me to work for a long time.
Didnt really say a number, but 1 and a half years till i really got good at
the job and then maybe work 3 years at //least//.
Pretty much drilled in the entire meeting that i had to be VERY dedicated
and become very mature very fast.
Its so weird when i think about like when i left the airport and waved
goodbye and if i take this job that'll be the last time i see everyone for a
looooooooong time.
The best thing about the job will be the money, i guess. Paid much better
than being a teacher, they said - if i can stay there and be consistant.

Kinda sucky that its such a full time job because im 18 and then say if i
stay for 5 years, thats 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, perhaps 23 gone. And thats
allegedly "the best time of your life"..
but if i make a lot of money? Is that worth it? balance out fulltime work at
young age, for happy money for later..? I dont know what kinda work i'd get
back in australia, but things i WAS doing were crap.. (except for a design
job but i wasnt very good at that. it was too intense). I dont wanna be
waitressing or making telephone sales in aussie all my life~ thats for
sure...
And i cant write essays and i dont have the concentration or passion for
independant studying requ.d for university - not really.

While talking to him i really got the feeling that if i wanna quit after
like 2 years, it would be quite bad.. So its like a (NO) or (YES - stay for
longlong time).

His wife said that i should work hard at becoming independant and making
decisions by myself. I agree. And theres the irony in this writing since i
still want opinionsss/suggestions

Oh, my visa is also a little problem.... I gotta try get this ancestor visa,
even though everyone seems to reckon its too much of a longshot now. ):
Maybe i should hire some ninja to go intimidate the embassy till they let me
stay

2006-12-12T13:45:00.000+10:00

So im in japan and I dont wanna go home without at least making enough money to pay my parents back and whatever else on the side would be waygood 8]
I like japan better than australia.

I got some job offers:
one is a several month stint working at kindergartens teaching english - which i've been visiting and doing with the current english teacher while i've been here so far (only like 3 and a half weeks). I'ts heaps fun. After that, perhaps i'd find something somewhere else more permanent... perhaps not..?

The other is like a foot in the door to living in japan.
A steel corporation. The boss's wife goes to my japanese learning classes and they offered me a job as a typist etc.
Im on good terms with his wife - shes cool~ She invited me to go use their personal Gym/sports center anytime i want, or just come and visit. Her and her hubby are pakistani and very influential. Friends with embassies etc.
But they want me to work for like 3 or 4 years - so I suppose that would be contract
After that then i could stay and work there longer if i wanted (they would prefer it). Apparently he gives great bonus pays etc.
It means id be able to stay in japan longer than what my current visa allows me to... and I could set up life here and live happily ever after

BUT i havent been here very long yet and 3 years is an awful big dedication. Ive never worked at a place for more than three years, unless you count school - and i was always halfhearted at that

OTHERWISE when i go back to australia, i get into whatever university will accept me, get some kind of degree and get to reunite with all my left behind posessions that didnt fit in my suitcase. (Probably get a shitty job there though. All the jobs in australia look shitty. Not excited.)
And like.. live forever in australia - because I wont really be able to get back to japan unless I get a sponsored work visa after I get a degree, and who knows if i'd even have the money to come back anyway.

I want to stay in japan now, but I want to WANT to stay in Japan later too - except who knows if i will want to or not when that time comes.
I still havent experienced this "homesick" thing
and if I do, and cant leave, it'll be shitarse

i dunno

2006-12-09T23:30:00.000+10:00

So the american english teacher who works at the kindergartens we visit each week invited us to his christmas party..

Another teacher offered to pick us up and take us there with her and her little bro~

Turns out it was at a church. And consisted almost entirely of good christian folk. We had a marvellous gay christian time and partake'd in wholesome christian activites. With readings from the bible, a big fat giving and loving and jesus speech, hellafun party games, live christmas christian songs and dance and an abundance of food which not only takes on the meaning of abundance but extends it beyond imagination.

The pastor is 25, japanese, and he looks 19. Hes married to an american girl who looks about 18. It took like TEN MINUTES for me to realise he was actually the pastor and not just trying to bullshit me.

Im not sure if the teacher who took us (and hung out with us all night. Shes a rockin' 30yo who looks about 17) is also christian, but her bro is definitely not - and stood by to snigger quietly with me at several things <3

Almost every person there spoke English as well. Some spoke like.. 3 or more languages.

Me, Jo and the girl who took us there all took out the most expensive best prizes of the evening 8) It was funny. And we feel bad. //LOL
I got a GIANT "lilo and stitch" stitch plushie. Joelle got a HUMONGOUS glass ball ornament~ we gave the stitch to our driver friend though :)
We didnt want to but its not like we could fit it in our suitcases or anything. Plus she was all "AAH IT IS KAWAIIIIII!!!!"

Theyre not so bad a people really~ just have veeeeeeery long speeches.

2006-12-07T00:02:00.000+10:00

There's this period here in Japan called the "Illumination". I'm not sure if it is an odd translation (I found this little engrish gem on the package of a toy yesterday - "The changing-clothes figure skating of new feeling which can enjoy recombination freely with spare clothing feeling"), or they just wanted something more fancy than "christmas lights". But apparently there are thousands of them; everywhere; all around the country. Hatsue wants to take us driving around looking at them, which should be fun.

This week we've got mostly the usual. We've been visiting Japanese kindergartons fairly regularly - helping with the english class/ playing with the children. And then we've got our Japanese language class 3 times a week (I'm progressing surprisingly quickly, considering out teacher can barely speak english). We'll (actually probably "I'll", because Akira may not be bothered) probably spend a day at Chiba City again this week, and then to Tokyo again on the weekend. On Monday we're going to Tokyo disneyland with Lisa Sato.

Before I came here I was under the impression that the trains and buses were going to be extremely expensive, but really there aren't that bad. To tokyo is about $7 each way, and then about $1.30 from district to district (Harajuku, Shibuya, Ueno etc). To Chiba is $3.20 one way. The buses are a lot more expensive than Australia, but they aren't too bad, and we mostly only use them to go from Hatsue's house to Anegasaki Station ($2.60 on eway - not a very long distance, either). As far as other expenses go, food is definitely cheaper than Australia. Apart from pizza which is insanely expensive ($30 for a "large" one). Lot of other little everyday things are also cheaper, but I think that's partly because of the huge variety. I bought a pearl necklace the other day that reminds me very much of one Audrey Hepburn in wearing in a picture hanging above this computer (Hatsue is a fan). I wish I only brought a third of the things I did bring, because there's so much I want to buy.

Eek. I'm going to bed - gotta wake up early(ish) tomorrow morning for class. I have been sleeping in horribly since I got here, I think because of the cold.

Hum.

2006-12-06T23:06:00.000+10:00

//copied and pasted from an email to someone, coz im too lazy to write stuff just for posting up here//

Joelle and i went to tokyo for the first time the other day. Hatsue didnt go with us but it was reasonably easy. Pretty cool. I could have walked round and round the big intersection outside of shibuya station aaall day. I just like to look at the people. Shopping is boring; haha. The only other place we went was harajuku. different to what id imagined - but still better.

(end copyandpaste bit) ----------------------------------

ok i may as well write something I GUESS~

Im hungry again but its 10:30 and ive already had dinner. I think its all this cold weather. I want to eat a big bowl of bolognese. and a bowl of chicken curry and rice. and a bowl of caesar salad. and a bowl of stirfry with ginger and goodness. and a big meaty creamy mushroomy casserol. I miss mum and janes cooking.

All the mushrooms they have here are W.E.I.R.D - fungusy looking things and stuff. They taste ok..
The juice here is all weird and sweet and chemically tasting too. I had a vegetable juice that tasted like that nasty cheap grape bubblegum flavour~ you know what im on about. so grose.

We are going to disneyland on like.. the 11th i think. It will be cool. Joelles exited. Moreso than me. But i am looking forward to it.

I miss having english music avaliable to me. Japanese music is like.. THERES SO MANY BOYBANDS. Its like what america/england/australia was like 10 years ago. All these guys in groups, singing about sappy romance and with sappy orchestral shit in the background. GIVE ME ROCK. SWEET SWEET ROCK.

Apparently there was an earthquake last night. I was asleep so i missed it though. Hatuse felt it and wokeup so thats how she knew. But yeah. I feel cheated. I SLEPT THROUGH MY FIRST EARTHQUAKE EVER. Apparently theres like one every month or so anyway, so im sure ill get another chance before i leave.

nightnight

oh. i like japan more than australia. Its just.. superior. Apart from almost every food being slightly fishy or weird looking, and expensive stuff.

2006-12-04T21:05:00.000+10:00

Akira and I caught the train to Tokyo the day before yesterday. It took an hour instead of 40 minutes because we got on the wrong train (Akira's fault - not mine).

Despite having to wake up at 7am and having all kinds of train related dramas, we had an awesome day. We mostly explored Shibuya and Harajuku; they were both amaaazing. As soon we walked out of Shibuya station we were bombarded with the kind of tokyo you see in the movies - neon lights, thousands of people and massive teevee screens everywhere.

We had some　gyoza for lunch in Shibuya (only 360 yen), which still makes my stomach squirm with tasty deliciosness whenever I think about it. We also had some freaky egg ramen - not so delicious. Between breakfast, brunch, lunch and an early dinner, I also managed to squeeze in two crepes; Strawberry and peach, and then later banana and chocolate. The last one made me quite sick, because I honestly don't think my stomach was able to hold all the food I had consumed that day, but it was worth it.

Oh oh! While wandered around Shibuya (kind of lost but not really) I came across a Zara (FYI - Europe-based clothing brand) store; it was three floors (cue joelle almost peeing from excitement). I didn't even know Zara was stocked in Japan. Akira was complaining of sore feet, so I didn't look for long, but I'll definitely go back there.

Harajuku was awesome mostly for the densly packed market streets and crazy clothing - both in the shops and on the people. I could have spent forever wandering around there looking at things. I did see a grandma dressed in a frilly, super-boofy, short pink dress, pigtails, knee high socks and pumps, which I'll admit deterred me slightly, but not for long.

2006-11-28T20:59:00.000+10:00

Stupid bastard marked me down for always turning up 40 minutes late to class and laughing at his monobrow. I HATE CAD.

Got a High Distinction for my animation though.

Blah uni.

2006-11-28T20:17:00.000+10:00

me and joelle went on the train to chiba city today, and on the way back all the kids were coming home from school.
This bunch of senior high guys got on the train and stood next to where we were sitting and theyre all like *whisper whisper kawaii whisper whisper*

So one of them makes this big effort to look all relaxed and innocent, playing with his phone while the others sort of shuffle about and stuff.

Me and jo didnt talk on the train but when we got of i was like...

"uuh.. those guys standing next to me..."
and shes goes
"AHAHA omg, that one dude kept lining you up with his camera phone //ROFL// SO OBVIOUS. i wanted to tell you but.. skjhefjkhblabla etc. lots of pictures".

i had hoped not v _v; but i knew.

my hair was like Hermione, today *sob*

now some weird asian kids have my photo and photos can be sent from phone to phone, too x_____x

2006-11-27T22:29:00.000+10:00

Going to catch the train to Goi and/or Chiba city tomorrow . By myself!!

I bet I'll get lost.

Hooray.

2006-11-24T23:04:00.000+10:00

I am actually only interested about recounting my courageous experiences with crab soup, but I suppose I'd better talk about Kamakura first, because it was awesome.

Yesterday (seem like ages ago, though) we caught the train to this fairly old, fairly small, quirky town. It had lots of thin little market streets and unpredictably placed eleborate temples, and was surrounded by red, orange and green forest. Everything was tiny, packed together and very busy, which made it all much more cute. I found the shops perhaps as interesting as the temples, because there were so many colourful, little things to look at. We had cold soba (yumm) for lunch in this very traditional, tiny little bar - everything was wooden, highly decorate and we were sitting on the floor. So far I've found the food here to be quite cheap. I don't have my own photographs, so I've snatched some from google to accompany this entry. We took a bunch on disposable cameras, but we haven't had them developed yet. And even then, we can't scan them.

I liked the big buddha (Daibutsu, I think was his name). We climbed inside his belly - it was dark and creepy and completely awesome. I do love Buddha's, they're so fat and happy. I wanted to climb up and rub his belly, but I think I may have been arrested. So I didn't. Besides, he is pretty damn huge and a round, I'd probably slip right off and smack my head on the conrete.

We also visited the Hasedera Temple. The shaped trees, fishponds and architecture in general was pretty. I'm too lazy to describe it beyond that.

Now, on to the crab.

I've never tried it (crab) before, due to partial disgust and my general dislike of most seafood (excluding raw salmon). And I suppose in the end it wasn't too bad at all. But when Mariko brought out the bowl of cloudy soup with a massive claw hanging over the side of the thing (shell and all) I was quite freaked out. I hate eating meat still in the form of the animal it came from.

At first I tried just drinking the soup, which wasn't too bad, but the damn crab kept slipping along the bowl and smacking me in the side of the face when I raised the bowl to my lips to drink. So I spent the next 5 minutes trying to imagine there wasn't half a crab pressed up against my cheek, even though I could see it, bobbing up and down in my suspiciously cloudy soup. I finished it eventually. Even managed to pick some of the meat out of it's body and eat it, because like I said, it wasn't all that bad. I played with opening and closing its claw for a while, until I moved it too hard and it snapped off. After lunch Mariko dressed us in her daughter kimonos. Pictures later.

And now I am going to bed. What a boring lot of writing.

2006-11-21T13:20:00.000+10:00

i hit my head on the wardrobe roof v_v ow.
everything in this country is miniature

Joelles being a real twag today so im not going to go explore how to catch a bus with her, instead im sitting at home with a sore neck and bump on my head and drawing lame pictures which i cant scan and upload because i have no scanner.
She can go on her own. Skank.

Shes wearing my boots though. better not scratch them

I have a headache. Apparently its mals bday today. HBday mal

im feeling kinda dizzy. gonna go do something else :\

2006-11-20T12:23:00.000+10:00

I stole Akira water pillow from her room, and replaced with my own, which up until now had caused the nerves in my neck to convulse in terror whenever I thought of it.

Woo.

2006-11-18T12:29:00.000+10:00

This morning Akira and I explored the town we're staying at. The busier areas with lots of shops are about 4-5 kilometres away, but there is a small general store just down the road.

My digital camera was stolen (or misplaced c _c ahaha) at Singapore airport, so I have no pictures. It's a shame, because everything is so cute and quaint. The tiny houses go right up to the street (which are about half the size of Australian streets) and there are cute little fences, shaped trees and little school children in blue jumpsuits everywhere. It's autumn so lots of the trees are red or orange -- very pretty.

We found this little man-made, tiled stream by accident while we were walking. It was kind of tucked away at the edge of a paved street. The water came out through the mouth of a dragon and then followed the dragon's body down to a fountain (there were little arches and bridges all around). We actually found the dragons tail first, which curved down this little hill with some steps that went down to the foundtain area.

A bit further down the street we found a giant dragon's head made from stone, wich had a tunnel through it's mouth. We were completely lost, but we also managed to find a little shrine in a forest-y area、and eventually find our way back to Hatsue's.

I might to back to the dragons this afternoon to draw, if it isn't too cold. 　

EDIT: AKIRA INPUT

we went exploring today
and sort of kinda got lost

we found a huge dragon and walked through a big tunnel cave in its mouth. there were dried leaves all over the floor. it would be cool to go back there at night.

we also found a spooky shrine tucked away into a forest at the side of town
we didnt go too far in/get too close to the shrines and carved pillars and stuff.　they kinda looked like graves almost . _.
scary

2006-11-15T23:42:00.000+10:00

Akira and I are at Singapore airport right now. Our plane was delayed; once because of stormy weather, and again because the landing strip was too busy. I could go into an in depth account of my adventures with congealed chicken jelly, 3 straight hours of tetris and a pair smelly feet (belonging to the man behind me) that were shoved through the crack in my seat, but I'm too tired. And annoyed. And hot - Akira looks like a beetroot whose hair is about to fuzz-explode. Not that beetroots (beetroot?) have hair. I'll upload a visual reference at some point when we arrive.

2006-11-11T10:08:00.000+10:00

Working Holiday Visa !!

2006-11-09T14:45:00.000+10:00

Our visa's have arrived, or as the consulate-general of japan calls them, " ALIEN REGISTRATIONS"

so
we are now registered aliens
ITS TIME TO PROBE, BABY~!

2006-11-09T08:08:00.000+10:00

Leaving for Mullumbimby (aka the population 5000 where socio-economic musicians, hippies, miscreants of society, bongos, bongs and tie dyed t-shirts go to die) tomorrow afternoon. I'll be staying there with my family for a few days, before Akira and I fly out.

Hooray.

x

2006-11-07T13:34:00.000+10:00

I am leaving Australia for Japan in a week. One week. And because I am a retard who leaves everything to the last minute, I still have a bunch of things to do. Like packing. And buying cheese, which is apparently of imminent importance (Hatsue likes cheese).

Wed, Nov 15: SINGAPORE AIRLINES
From: BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA (BNE)
Departs: 2:45pm
To: SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE (SIN)
Arrives: 8:30pm
Flight Time: 7 hour(s) and 45 minute(s)

Wed, Nov 15-Thu, Nov 16: SINGAPORE AIRLINES
From: SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Departs: 11:40pm
Wed, Nov 15
To: TOKYO NARITA, JAPAN (NRT)
Arrives: 7:05am
Thu, Nov 16
Flight Time: 6 hour(s) and 25 minute(s)

x