Day Fourteen (!) - Ueno, the pandaless wonder :<

Hello. ^_^

I really enjoyed my trek across Kyushu, but I have to say, I'm pretty glad to be back in bright and busy Tokyo after all of that.

Today I went to Ueno, which is mostly a park, with many museums and some shrines both in and around it. Also, there's a zoo! BUT. Oh, that damn zoo.

Mrs. Black came with me at the start of my day... I slept in to make up for the previous night so we got going around 1 or so. We were going to go to Ueno Zoo to see... PANDAS. YES. I heard the zoo wasn't that good except for the fact that it had pandas, and that was worth $5 to me. :< But when we got to the zoo... no pandas! There was a sign saying that there has been no panda exhibit as of April 2008, when... the panda... died. ._____.;;;; It died! There's no more panda! Needless to say, we were sad and disappointed, because we really wanted to see a panda. But at least we didn't pay admission first.

Instead we went to a nearby shrine, which is unusual in that your admission fee lets you actually go inside and view artifacts and get an up-close look at the relief carvings, lauquer, and gold leaf that make up the structures. We took off our shoes and went inside. There were some cool things on display, including a very old map of Japan done in metal. You weren't supposed to take photos inside but I snuck in a few covertly... the negative side to doing that is that framing and focus of the shots is sort of a mixed bag. The rest of the grounds were nice, and included a hundred or so very VERY big stone lanterns, as well as, unusually, about 50 copper lanterns. This is one of the main attractions. I certainly is the only shrine I went to where I saw copper lanterns, and they were huge like the stone ones! They were really pretty. A sign said they aren't used for regular lighting, but only when lighting fires for rituals, etc, or something to that effect.

Afterwards, Mrs. Black left to take care of some things... it was her daughter's birthday today. :< I continued on through the park, deciding to choose one of the many museums to go to. I chose the biggest one, the Tokyo National Museum, which is supposed to be very good. While looking at the Ueno Park map, a Japanese man approached me and asked if he could talk to me, as he was practicing his English. I said yes, and so he asked me several questions about where I was going, if I was in Japan on vacation, etc. He was surprised to hear that I like the craziness of Shibuya :< He offered to come to the museum with me to continue the conversation, as he is a member there, but I declined.

I went to the museum by myself and it was very large, consisting of four separate buildings. I only made it to one building, and part of it was a whirlwind tour, at that, since I was running out of time before they closed. ._. I did get to see a lot of cool things, though, including their current exhibit of awesome statues and other artifacts from a temple in Kyoto that is being renovated, which is the only reason they allowed the items to leave the grounds. The statues of Buddha and related figures that they had were awesome. Most of them had inlaid crystal eyes, which I have never seen before. It made them look almost alive. No photos allowed in that room, of course :<

After I sort of ran around seeing as many rooms as I could before closing, I left to go take a look at the big pond of the park, with a shrine in the middle. The pond is sort of divided by paths into three sections. One is open for renting little boats, and the rest is entirely covered in enormous lotus leaves. Huge! Without the flowers, so many lotus plants with the giant leaves and the pods were almost gross :< I was torn about how interesting versus icky I found them. However, there was some nice animal life... really big fish, lots of turtles ^_^ , and some ducks. The shrine itself was not terribly interesting, though it's sort of hard to describe why, so I'll leave it at that.

I spent the rest of the evening at a shopping arcade near the park, which consisted basically of three parallel streets (plus some cross streets) of stalls and shops. Lots of fish and some fruits, veggies, and mushrooms for sale. The stores were mostly clothing or cosmetic stores offering discounted merchandise. Some were more regular clothing stores. There were also a lot of pachinko/slot places mixed in, heh. One street had a bunch of capsule hotels (I'm dying to try one of those >_>) and other facilities to appeal to the male on his own for the evening. All in all it was a nice area to spend the time as it got dark, since it was full of people and energy. One of the fruit vendors was selling skewers with a big slice of fresh fruit on it for ¥100. I got a nice slice of pineapple ^_^ it was yummy.

Afterwards I went back to Shibuya seeking food, where I went to a really nice restaurant-sized cafe and had pasta with sauce. I like that you can usually get some kind of a set of food at most restaurants, or you order something and it ends up being a set. I guess since more traditional Japanese meals consist of several components, that often translates into other kinds of eating establisments. At the very least, you often get a "mini salad," which can be any number of things, but ever since Fukuoka, I always try the little salad. At the museum in Fukuoka, there was a tiny mound of salad consisting of shredded cabbage or lettuce and shredded carrot, with some sort of peanuty dressing... really good. I've received the tiny salad at a few other places, and it always has some kind of great dressing, so I always eat it. My pasta set tonight came with a little bowl of chips and a little bowl of salad (really little... a 3-or-so-inch dia. ramekin) and the pasta, which was really good.

I finished off the day with a strawberry parfait at the Blue Seal Cafe, which is now my favourite place to get ice cream. ^_^ They even have flavours from Okinawa, and there's good people watching from the second floor eating area.

So, tentative plan for the last week of my trip:

Thurs - Roppongi and/or Odaiba(?), cos it's raining.
Fri - Day trip to Nikko
Sat - Sumo day! With dinner and/or shopping afterwards.
Sun - Harajuku, for another attempt at seeing some Harajuku girls, plus shopping and the Meiji Shrine.
Mon - Day trip to Kamakura with Mrs. Black
Tues - Stuido Ghibli Museum!
Wed - Shopping in Shinjuku (and picking up some melon pan :<), probably packing.
Thurs - Packing, then going home ._.

Man, I've been so tired... I'm falling asleep here >_> oh well. Here I go!
(actually, I did fall asleep writing this, which was probably obvious. But now I fixed it! ^_^;)

Back in Tokyo ^_^

Hello everyone...! I finally made it back to Tokyo... and the internet, heh. I'm going to put up an entry (or two?) tomorrow some time. But right now, my eyes are closing... sleepy time. ._.

I'll leave you with one photo of some deer in Nara (more tomorrow).

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. . _.