Day Nine - Nagasaki and Shimabara (sort of)

Sooo hi from Shimabara! ^_^; I'm moving pretty quickly, I guess.

FIRST OF ALL. I just wanted it to be known that I have finally figured out how to check my voice mail on my phone, so leave as many messages as you'd like now. ^___^

I have no idea what these cute bunnythings are... they're the resident spokesperson of something-or-other in Nagasaki... but they are everywhere, including souvenirs. ._.

I spent the day in Nagasaki until attractions began to close and darkness loomed. I woke up early and dropped by bags off at Nagasaki Station in a coin locker (best things ever, and they're everywhere here). Then I took the tram to the Peace Park, which houses the Peace Statue, among a fountain and many other statues and memorials of the atomic bomb. The statue is waaaaay bigger than I realized, which made it very much worth the effort of climbing the many stairs and hills to get to the park.

Nagasaki is essentially built on a river that cuts through the mountains. They didn't cut down all the mountains or anything (obviously) so everything is built onto and into the mountains. This results in both (1) an awesome looking city that goes up rather than out, and (2) lots of climbing. EVERYTHING is at the top of hills, stairs, etc. Some places like the Atomic Bomb Museum and Glover Garden, which are trying to be very accessible to the elderly and handicapped, have an elevator, escalator, or the like. But most don't, and just walking around town, you usually end up going up and down some pretty intense hills, or you turn a corner and are faced with a steep set of stairs. It makes Nagasaki very unique and interesting, but I'm feeling all the not-so-good-for-me food I've been eating ._. and my lack of exercise for the past two months ._____.;

After the park I went to the bomb hypocentre, which is represented with a black monolith. There are a few other things in the park, such as the "actual ground level" at the time of the bombing (the current ground level is now raised in that area), a pretty statue, and a section of a church that was almost totally destroyed. Right when I got there there was a group of Japanese kids singing, which was rather cute... I took a video. They didn't seem to know the songs very well though :< ...then they left.

Then I moved on to the museum, which was actually a really good museum. It was smaller and, I think, more concise than the Hiroshima museum was. The introduction was dramatic, but I don't think they overdid it. By contrast, Hiroshima a little bit of the drama/cheese factor going on in their peace messages, and they were delivered often. Nagasaki had much more information on nuclear weapons and how they are being used today, as well as how they have been used in history. I had a simple omuraisu (omelette rice) lunch at the museum cafe, because I was very hungry from climbing everything. It didn't seem homemade or anything but it tasted pretty good anyway.

I made my way back onto the tram and took it to Glover Garden, which was perhaps the first western settlement in Japan, and so is full of more western and western/japanese style buildings. After taking a brief "detour" (ahem >_>) I was walking up the stairs(! no way) to the entrance. The whole thing was really nice from start to finish. Some Japanese girls took my photo after I took theirs for them, so I have a nice memento (though not my most flattering angle... brings out my hip chubb ._. hee). There was a lot of upupupup action, but fortunately, there were some escalators, moving walkways, and ramps to get up. The houses were pretty and interesting, and the route through the garden was very scenic in many ways. The garden itself was really pretty, with a lot of nice trees and flowers, many of which were identified on plaques. There was also a small Japanese garden and a few koi ponds with the largest fish I've seen yet. HUGE. HUGE KOI. There was one of the first (perhaps the first) western restaurant, which is now a tea and cake place... I avoided going inside. The houses were nice and had displays inside, including one house with displays on the woman who was most famous for being "Madame Butterfly." There was also a statue of her.

Also, there were amazing views of Nagasaki and the surrounding areas, including the bay and river, complete with GIGANTIC BOATS. REALLY REALLY BIG. The city just looks really awesome because not only are there cool mountains everywhere, but there are lots of buildings on the mountains. I liked it a lot ^_^

At the end of everything was the Museum of Performing Arts, or some similar name, which really surprised me. I was a little annoyed when I looked on the map and saw that you had to walk through it to leave, as forced museums are often terrible, which is why they're free and forced, heh. But this one was just one big room full of festival floats, which were colourful and interesting and huge. They also had a video going but I just stopped in the shop and left.

I went back to the station, stopping across the street to get the information centre to help me make a hotel reservation (I wasn't in the mood to tough it out over the phone again), then I picked up some takoyaki (little pieces of octopus covered in large amounts of a pancakey-like stuff, then cooked into perfectly round little balls); by the time I got around to eating it, it was mushy and not good ._. Still ridiculously hot though.

I took the shortest and most luxurious shinkansen ride yet. It was only 18 min. to the station where I had to transfer to a regular train to come to Shimabara, but it was fancyfancypants. I wished the ride was longer so I could've enjoyed it more. I don't enjoy tunnels at all though... on the fast trains, the change in pressure makes my ears close up right away, and it's very uncomfortable, sometimes even a bit painful I'd say. I only have that trouble a very little bit in airplanes and such, but in an in-and-out tunnel situation on the train, it's really bad. ._.

Shimabara is much more suburban feeling than anywhere else I've been. I think it's not really a city, but more of a town. It's not like a Connecticut suburb, with houses spread out and open space... it's more urban, but with far fewer people, shorter buildings, and more houses than businesses, or so it seems. I only saw about two streets' worth but you can sort of get a feel of a place.

I got a single room at another business hotel, which isn't as nice as my other rooms were but, like all my other rooms, is spotlessly clean. And I can see the lit-up Shimabara Castle from my window! ^_^ I went to the only place open to eat, which was a ramen shop about half a block away, which had good gyoza, okay curry, and no more orange juice ._. but it was open! This isn't a 24-hour kind of town.

Sleepy time now... tomorrow I'm going to walk around for a couple hours before hopping a ferry to Kumamoto. I'm determined to find one of the (public!) (free!) natural spring foot baths that are apparently in a few places around Shimabara. My feet will like me better then, I'm sure... :3

Day Eight - Fukuoka and Nagasaki

Hello from Nagasaki ^_^ I just got in last night around 8pm. I took the Kyushu train line, which I don't think is a Shinkansen, but it had an actual green car so I got a seat in that. It was really nice! I would say it's nicer than first class on an airplane (not that I would know) just because there are fewer people in each car, so fewer people to deal with overall.

I spent yesterday wandering about Fukuoka. My ryokan was in the perfect place between a bunch of shrines and a museum. First I went to a folk museum right after it opened. It had some english signs and brochure, so it was pretty nice. It described the history of Fukuoka and the surrounding prefecture, and had some interesting exhibits about the history and creation of crafts that are native to the region, such as Hakata dolls, which are carefully created from clay and painted by hand. It also talked about the biggest festival they have every year, where men carry very heavy floats through the town, each group trying to get the fastest time.

They also had some looms set up on which they weave Hakata cloth, which is used for obi, etc. These were in a house that was moved there for the purposes of preservation, since apparently it's a good example of architecture. It was really nice. There was also a gift shop where some Indian men were confusing both me and the shop owners... he kept asking if they put his desired purchases into the bag. It was really strange >_>

Afterwards I went to the Fukuoka Asian Art museum, which was pretty small, but I think it might be the only one (or one of few) of its kind. There was modern art from many Asian countries, like Thailand, China, and Malaysia. They had a special exhibit of Chinese propaganda posters which was very interesting. I ate at their cafe, where the food was okay but the people watching was good because there were cute children. :<

I meandered through the rest of the city, visiting various shrines and temples. What I like the most about Fukuoka besides the nice water are all the shrines and temples peppered throughout. I visited the Kushida shrine, which has many shrines and such on the grounds. They also have a gigantic ginkgo tree, which was awesome.

I'm cutting this entry a bit short because I have to get ready to check out of this hotel. Standard check-out time in Japan is 10am >_> but I want to get going to see the sights anyway.

Bye for now ^^

Day Seven - Miyajima and Fukuoka

Hello from Fukuoka! I am using the Japanese keyboard in the lobby of this ryokan, so this entry will be very brief as typing on it is difficult. Also, there will be no photos. ._.

Today, Mrs. Black and I took the ferry from Hiroshima to Miyajima, site of the famous "floating" torii gate and temple. It wasn't so much floating today, as the tide was very low... in fact, people walked right up to it.

The shrines and temples and everything else in Miyajima was beautiful. The sun got a bit hot, but it didn't keep us from appreciating what the area had to offer. We actually both agreed that it would be a great place to return to some day and spend a night. I would like to talk a lot more about Miyajima but this keyboard is so awkward :< (PS, tame deer wander all over the place in Miyajima... so cute!)

I took the shinkansen down to Fukuoka, where I am staying in a ryokan, which is essentially a Japanese-style hotel. This one in particular feels like some combination of hostel, hotel, and house. You take your shoes off when you come in and don a pair of the awaiting slippers; you transfer into seperate slippers when going to the bathroom. You don't wear the slippers in the rooms, like I almost did ._.;;

The rooms have tatami mat floors, a futon on the floor to sleep on with a buckwheat pillow, a low table　with cushion, and a small shrine space. Mine has a cute cow in it ^_^ Later on I'm going to try and look up those sorts of spaces and see if I can figure out the significance of the cow. But for now, it's just my adorable companion. :<

There are a lot of Buddhist temples and shrines sprinkled all throughout the city, many wedged in unlikely places. I'm going to try to revisit some tomorrow when it's lighter out.

All the temples being dark and closed, I went to Canal City, which is a giant shopping mall with water going through it. It's right on the river and lit up on the outside like the Vegas strip (there's even a fountain show to music ._.;)... but it's really cool.

Also at night, especially along the river, these little food stands are set up selling delicious looking and smelling items. This is a thing that is unique to Fukuoka. I didn't eat at any of them because they were all packed ._. maybe tomorrow if I end up being here another night.

I'm going to see how the day goes tomorrow as far as if I leave for Nagasaki tomorrow night or the next morning. I will keep you posted as able :<

I've had enough of this keyboard now, hee. Goodnight　＾＿＾；；

And another thing... (Harajuku)

I forgot to mention that while walking to lunch on Harajuku day (see post for Monday, Sept. 8, "Day Four - Yoyogi Park and Harajuku"), there was a parade down the street that we happened to be able to see. The procession was lead by (I believe) Shinto priests, who were followed by three miniature shrines carried by groups of people dressed in festival attire. They were yelling and smiling and looking for encouragement from the crowd, which I'm sure they needed carrying those undoubtedly heavy shrines on such a hot and humid day.

That's all... I just wanted to make sure I didn't forget to write about it. :< Oyasumi~

Day Six - Shinkansen and Hiroshima

Hello from Hiroshima ^_^

I finally got on the Shinkansen and made my way out of Tokyo. Mrs. Black came with me... she's going home tomorrow.

We had to get up very early to ride the Shinkansen, but the ride was nice... from Tokyo to Osaka we had big seats with lots of leg room, and I managed to sleep for an hour ._. The Shinkansen is ridiculously fast... when we were at a station a few passed by, and each one took approx. four seconds to pass totally, and that's fifteen cars. It took about five hours total to get to Hiroshima, including transferring and taking the subway initially. We checked into our hotel, which is a Comfort, and the rooms are small and cute ^_^ We arrived a bit early for checkin so we just hung around for about half an hour, heh.

After dropping off our things we had planned on taking the ferry out to Miyajima, where you can find the famed "floating torii," among other things, but the ferry schedule was such that we would've only had about 15 minutes to walk around, which is stupid. We put that off til tomorrow and spent the day at the Peace Museum and the rest of the Peace Memorial Park, which was all really nice and pretty and sad.

As it got dark, we made our way to Hiroshima Castle, a reconstruction, though a pretty one. The grounds contained the castle with a moat, another nice compound, and an active shrine. The park areas in between were also nice, though we couldn't do much to appreciate them in the dark. The castle was pretty lit up at night, and the lights were all sparkly in the moat, so it was worth walking under the scary underpass to get there. ._.;

It was only scary because it (1) contained spiders, and (2) had lots of people on bikes whizzing through, deftly dodging between barriers... we kept stopping to watch them because we were sure they weren't going to make it... but of course they always did. :< I didn't like it!

Afterward, all tourist attractions being closed of course, we headed to find the food basement of the nearby department store. It proved to be difficult and frustrating, as the store has "main" and "new" buildings, and the maps and signage weren't clear or consistent. We finally found the food about 30 mins. before close, which is actually good because fresh food vendors lower their prices dramatically by then to get rid of the food. We got some gyoza-but-not-really (as it turned out). Additionally, I got yaki-onigiri (yummy! ^^) and a chocolate roll cake slice, and Mrs. Black got some tuna rolls and a strawberry cake. We ate out in the big plaza outside the stores, which contained tables of businessmen watching the giant TV screen, as well as some sculptures and a water feature. It made for a nice little meal.

We walked back to the hotel afterwards. Tomorrow we're going to take that boat out to the shrine and back, then go our seperate ways. There are also supposedly deer there walking around which should be cute :<

Hiroshima has a really modern and cute tram system. We took it down the street and they're way nicer than even the new Boston green line trains, which I thought were nice until now, heh. The doors are really big and flat and open out within about two inches of space from the car... it's really cool.

I'm going to head to Fukuoka tomorrow by Shinkansen, and hopefully I will be staying at a Ryokan... otherwise, probably a hotel or hostel I suppose. Whatever has the best reviews. I'll update whenever I can get internet access... lucky me that the hotel I'm in now has free wireless. . _.

Day Five - Shinjuku

I spent about half the day preparing for my journey within a journey that starts at Hiroshima tomorrow. The other half of the day, I spent in Shinjuku, which is close to Harajuku/Yoyogi.

Shinjuku has pretty much everything you could hope to find in Tokyo... bright lights, tall buildings, ridiculous architecture, all kinds of shopping, parks, shrines, and a giant train station... in fact, I think it might be the largest or second largest hub in the city. I didn't leave to go there until later in the day, so I missed Shinjuku-gyoen (a park), which closes down at 4.30. I was okay with that, because I had three other things on my agenda, and I was able to do them all.

First I strolled around for a bit before landing in some branch of Marui (OI), a department store (the clothes only kind... I should really call them clothing stores :<) that has many instances all over, but especially in Shinjuku. I think I saw at least four seperate OI stores, and there's a good chance I didn't see all of them. The one I went to had four floors dedicated to lolita, gothic, rock, etc. style, which is what I was looking for. The clothes were expensive, like in Laforet, but so, so awesome. The atmosphere in each store is equally awesome... despite being completely open to the hallway (or, in many cases, part of the hallway, or on both sides of the hallway), each store has its own unique personality which they express through decoration, and they all do it very well. I wanted to take pictures, especially on the goth floor where many of the stores built walls around their spaces, filling them with moody lighting, giant crosses, chains, etc., but you're not supposed to take pictures. I took one of the Angelic Pretty display window outside, a store name that I actually recognize from fantasizing about lolita clothes on the internets. If I go back there, I'm going to try to take some discreet photos. . _.

I walked through some of the smaller, more alley-like-but-not-really-because-they're-so-bright-and-full-of-stuff-etc streets. I decided to try eating at one of those places where you order at the machine outside. I chose my set, put the money in, and pushed the button for what I wanted. Out popped a little ticket and my change. Then, you go inside and put your ticket on a tray by the kitchen and say soba or udon (for noodle type... I like udon cos it's chewy :3). Within about two minutes (really!) you have your meal, and it was pretty damn good, too. I had a beef curry set, but it was about 1/3 curry plate and 2/3 giant bowl of udon. In and out were businessmen from the nearby skyscrapers, grabbing a quick meal before heading out on their journey home, I suppose. The whole area is really full of businessmen and OLs (office ladys) because there are so many office buildings and they are all so big, and I was there during a period when work would be letting out. Suits everywhere >_>

Afterwards I made my way to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices, a pair of attached towers with a 45th floor observation deck open to the public. Night time was definitely the way to go... after winding through all the crazy skyscrapers on the way there, I got to see them all lit up from above, along with the rest of the city. Tokyo looks like it goes on forever... you think a city like New York is really big, until you come here, and realize how really really big it is. The only part that wasn't all lights was a dark outline of Shinjuku-gyoen; otherwise they went on forever. I managed to get a few decent photos by sticking my camera right up to the glass. They had a little table with a stamp and inkpad on it so you could commemorate your journey to the top... I stamped a page inside my little black book ._.

The last thing I wanted to see was Hanazono-jinja, a shrine smack in the middle of all the crazy Shinjuku action. I wanted to see it because I wondered how they managed to put a shrine in with all that craziness... but they did it. You just walk down the street, and it's tall building, torii, tall building. You go through the torii and it leads you down a path with big lanterns and another torii, then the shrine. You could tell the shrine wouldn't look as pretty if it weren't at night, as it is, after all, still plunked down in the middle of all kinds of stuff. But with it lit up, it was very pretty. I didn't get good photos because I couldn't stabilize my camera on anything and it was dark.

When I came out of the station to see Hanazono-jinja, I stopped in the food basement of Isetan, a department store (an actual one). I don't know if I've talked about food basements yet, but they're amazing. Pretty much every department store that's actually a department store has one. There are many sections with tons of vendors selling things from bento to fresh meat and fish to bread and candy. There's usually a section that's like a grocery store, and the rest is full of vendors behind counters, who will often give you a free sample if you seem interested in their wares. They organize the vendors by product type.

At Isetan in particular, the food basement was totally awesome. It's a little more subdued and refined because of the type of store Isetan is, but in general the goods were not overpriced and they came in very nice packaging. I picked up two awesome looking bento for the trip tomorrow (one for each of us) and a gift or two :3 All the bento boxes there were so pretty, I wanted all of them. Many had little compartments and were in nice wooden boxes, some of them laquered or with other decorations, or wrapped in pretty paper. The one I picked out is in a box shaped like a fan. Finally, when the "store closing" song and announcement was playing, I picked up... melon pan. It was awesome. It is definitely in my top 5 favourite things I like to eat. The bread was fresh and soft, the sugar was sparkly, and there was some green-tinted, melon essence action going on. Also, it had a filling! I think it was supposed to be a melon filling... it was light orange. I don't know. It was great. Sugoi!

Also, while it's true that people in Japan don't just run around shouting "kawaii" and "sugoi" at things (unlike certain people at certain conventions >_>), I have to say that Japanese teens/early 20s girls... do. It's more subdued in a department store, but at the game places, it's pretty rampant. I go in those even more to watch than to play. The girls are so cute :< and sometimes they're with their boyfriends or dates, I guess, who all spend tons of money trying to get the girl the prize she wants.

I might be updating less frequently over the next... several days. I'm going to try to pop in an internet cafe or two, or take advantage of free hotel internet, but who knows. Best way to reach me is, as always, by sending mail to my phone.

It's really late now... I have to get up early... ugh. Maybe I can catch a nap on the train ^_^;;;

Day Four - Yoyogi Park and Harajuku

Yay, Harajuku day! :3

I didn't get any pictures of Harajuku girls :< They weren't out posing like they usually would be on a Sunday, due to the 90% humidity that later turned into a downpour.

Mr. Black came back from China Saturday night, so he came with me and Mrs. Black to Yoyogi Park and Harajuku. We walked to the park from their house... only about 10 minutes, including stopping to get milky tea at the vending machine ^_^ It's a big park, and we only walked through part of it. There are a bunch of rules in the park and everyone actually follows them. You can, for example, only ride your bike on the path in one direction. I think it's kind of nice to read a sign like that (or like "don't let your dog pee and poo in this area") and know people actually follow it.

The park was full of picnicing families, amateur and pro photographers, tourists, children, and performers of all kinds. Along the outer edge of the park on a sidewalk, there were a whole bunch of full bands playing in a whole range of styles. There was one band about every 10 feet or so, so it's a wonder all the sounds were seperated enough to hear. There was one band of almost all steel drums and mostly all girls playing them... it was really cute ._.

Further down there were some food stands, and also... the "Elvises." They're not really supposed to be Elvis... they're more like greasers. They wear their hair really high and have high-heeled boots and black jeans and leather jackets. They do dances every once in a while, which I didn't get to see because on this particular day they were doing some kind of photo shoot. It was a good opportunity to get them all posed together, though. I especially liked some of the girls... they were cool.

We walked by the area where the Harajuku girls (and boys) usually hang out and let people take photos, but the weather was so oppressive, I wasn't surprised that there weren't any around. I got to see a lot of them shopping, but I didn't want to stop them in a department store for a photo, and later it was pouring. There's a good chance I'll be going back, though, since it's so close by and I want to get a better look at some of the shops.

We walked down the street that is the centre of young Harajuku activity, Takeshita Douri. It was completely packed with people and full of small stores selling all sorts of fashions. After making our way through we went to a shrine, Tougou-jinja. It was a pretty walk through the shrine grounds to the shrine itself; you pass over a Z-shaped bridge over a pond full of enormous koi and turtles. Also on the shrine grounds, they were having a shrine sale, which is like an antiques show with different people bringing their wares to the shrine.

We ate at a more American restaurant called Fujimamas. Mrs. Black and I had the same thing: a quesadilla with ham and spring onion, followed by a chocolate waffle dessert. It was all very delicious :< The Blacks left me after that to go home.

I went on to Kiddy Land, a huge store full of... well... cute things. There were maybe five different levels and they each had different things, mostly organized by character. There was a whole floor dedicated to Snoopy/Peanuts. I picked myself up a Miffy sandwich bento box, which are not very common, and it was reasonably priced.

I was wondering why it was so dark when I was leaving Kiddy Land to go down a few buildings to the Oriental Bazaar... then it started to rain... then it rained a lot. I only got a little wet before making it into the Bazaar, but after that it was really torrential. I shopped around for a bit, then bought a cheap umbrella and made my way through the wetness to Laforet, a big department store catering to the young Harajuku fashionistas. Several floors catered to the goth/lolita/punk/etc. group, which I could say I fall into taste-wise, so I mostly looked around there. There was also a book store that sold mostly magazines, where I picked up a manga magazine... it's about an inch and a half thick, and it comes out every month. There were also about a half an inch's worth of goodies tucked into the middle... some pencils, eraser, ruler, and writing board. Kawaii ^_^ There was also a music store dedicated to visual kei bands, which I also happen to like, but I didn't get anything there.

It was still raining when I left Laforet, so I looked for more indoor activities. I found a cool game center/coffee shop place. It was full of touch screens and some sit-down, keyboard-and-mouse screens where you could play casual games like jigsaw puzzles, etc. I played the jigsaw puzzle with another girl, but I couldn't figure out how to type in Japanese on the keyboard, so I couldn't reply to anything she was saying, heh.

I went to a miniature, three story mall back on Takeshita Douri. The first floor was stores, the third floor was another branch of the same cake buffet I went to, and the second floor was the food court, which was my favourite. There were a lot of cute stands... I ended up getting miso fried noodles, which were really good. They were like lo mein, but with a different flavour. Then for dessert (I always get dessert if I can :<) I went to Ocha-ken Cafe, which was so cute I could hardly stand it. They sell drinks and pancake-puff things... all in the shape of Ocha-ken, the adorable puppy mascot. I got a strawberry milk and pancake puffs with different fillings. They put ice cream on top of the milk and put things on it to make it look like Ocha-ken :< and the puffs were shaped like Ocha-ken, too :<<< After that I just walked home... things were closing down around the area.

Today I'm going to be around the house for part of the day, washing some clothes, organizing, and packing for my journey to Hiroshima and Kyushu. We're leaving tomorrow morning for Hiroshima and staying overnight, then I'm going to keep going. I don't know when and if I'll have internet access on the way... my guide books show some internet cafes so I'll try to pop in a few.

I hope everyone at home is having a good start to the school year! Or work! Or whatever! ^_^;