Since I didn't really know what else to do in Yokosuka I asked Hiro, and he recommended I go to Yokohama. So I did!

Yokohama is a really nice harbour city, a lot larger than I expected. It feels as large as Osaka did, but it probably isn't. Visited the Minato Mirai (harbour of the future I believe) science park, with lots of giant buildings including the tallest skyscraper in Japan at an odd 300 metres. The view from there was amazing, sort of like Madurodam, but different.

After getting back to ground level (with an elevator that goes 750m per minute) I took the subway to China Town, which was also very nice to stroll through. On one side they have a street like Harajuku, with all the fancy stores, and the street next to it is completely China Town with Chinese stalls and restaurants. At this point my feet were really killing me though, so I headed back to Yokosuka-Chuo.

I'm going to (try and) do absolutely nothing tomorrow, so my feet are well rested for Mt. Fuji the day after. After that it's back to Osaka for my last day with Hiro and his family. We're going kaiten-suzhi again (what else!) so I'm already looking forward to it.

Today I left my hotel in Tokyo early to head for Yokosuka. For the uninitiated, Yokosuka is where one of my favourite games (Shenmue for the Dreamcast) was set, so I wanted to taste the atmosphere for real and see if it was still what it was like in the game (20 odd years ago).

I arrived at the hotel way too early to check in, so I dropped off my luggage and headed into town. I quickly found a lot of things from Shenmue like Dobuita Street and some parks and shops which look exactly like they did in the game. I wandered along most of the streets, and ran into the US navy base here. It didn't seem open to the public, so I headed to the park where the battle ship of Admiral Togo has been opened up to the public. They restored it in it's original state as much as possible, which made it quite interesting to visit.

After that I figured there wasn't much left to do here, so I headed over to the next station to seach for an internet cafe, since they didn't have any near my hotel. And here I am!

I'm not quite sure what to make of my other 2 days here, I might just relax from all the walking I did in Tokyo so I don't come back as tired as I went, or maybe I'll try and find Fujikyu Highlands, the best amusement park in Japan when it comes to rollercoasters. The thing is though, I have no idea where it is, or if it's nearby. But I'm sure I'll find some nice Japanese people to tell me all about it.

As for speaking Japanese, I'm beginning to give up on that. Like I said before, I can explain what I want just fine in Japanese, but then they throw back these huge sentences with big words I've never heard of and all I can say is 'wakarimasen' (I don't understand). So I'm switching to English now, something which works fine here in Yokosuka (probably because of all the Americans at the base here) and I'll throw in some Japanese if they don't understand me

My time is up here, so I'd better head back.

Got a tip from Hiro to visit Daiba Bay and Asakusa before I left Toyko, so I went there today, on my last full day.

Daiba Bay was great, they should build more cities like that. It's filled with huge structures separated by enormous stretches of water that form the Tokyo Bay area. You ride through it on something that feels like a monorail, with a great view of all the attractions in the bay area. I stopped at Daiba itself to visit the mall there where I scooped up some more DS games. Took some pictures and then I took the long way back to Shinbashi to head to Asakusa.

Asakusa is a great tourist area, with lots of little shops selling all kinds of souvenirs. Sadly though the tourists also spoil the view, but luckily I bumped into a Seizeriya (the first I've seen in Tokyo) which is a chain of Italian restaurants with delicious spaghetti carbonara.

After that I was going to head back to the hotel but I ran into some UFO machines so I had no choice but to play them for some more toys for Aoi and Saki, which went perfectly! Then it really was time to head back to the hotel and pack up all my stuff to head to Yokosuka tomorrow.

I couldn't leave Tokyo without yet another visit to my kaiten-zushi restaurant so after 11 plates (new record!) and a nice litre of beer I thanked them for their delicious food and headed back to the hotel where I now have the latest episode of Top Gear waiting for me! It was a good day.

Got a tip to visit Yoyogi Park on Sunday, since it would be full of bands playing all kinds of music. So I headed over there to find lots and lots of teenagers playing in bands, and posing in tourists in some of the most ridiculous outfits I've ever seen. 'Punk' would be an understatement, I'd call it zombie-punk or something, really strange stuff. Walked all around the park and stumbled upon Meiji-Jingu, a beautiful park area with a famous shrine in the middle.

Luckily they were having what I believe was a wedding ceremony (though the bride was a lot easier to identify than the groom) all in the shrine setting with priests around it and lots and lots of people in all sorts of Kimono's (great picture material!). The inner walls of the shrine were completely filled with all kinds of stuffed toys, it was amazing to see. Not only that, but they were constantly adding new ones, and a lot of Japanese people were bringing bags full of them along to the shrine to donate I suppose. And then when I walked out I saw groups of people opening up stacks of boxes, all full of stuffed toys. I'll have to ask Hiro what that was all about...

Headed back pretty early, scored some more souvenirs for the peeps back home, and started walking toward my favourite kaiten-zushi place here. My timing wasn't perfect but I got a seat within minutes. The combination of the rice, salmon, wasabi and soy sauce, together with a little beer is sooo delicious. It's a shame I can't stomach it for breakfast or I'd eat nothing else over here

Won some more toys for Aoi and Saki and now I'm back at the hotel. Tomorrow will be my last full day in Tokyo before I head to Yokosuka. Think I'll try Roppongi tomorrow evening or maybe Shinjuku again, can't wait to see Yokosuka though.

Bedtime if you ask me!

Headed for Akihabara today, wanted to check out some more gadgets and toys. Bought some more stuff for back home and some nice DS accessories to keep me busy here and headed on to the skyscraper district.

I can't believe I didn't notice the skyscrapers before when I was in other parts of Tokyo but from Shinjuku it's hard to miss them. At least 40-50 story buildings with a great view from the top, but no option to take pictures I'm afraid. So that was just fun for me.

Headed back the hotel soon after, stopping for kaiten-zushi on the way. I really love the salmon sushi, even with wasabi, I might go back there in a few minutes for some more actually...yummay!

Went to Harajuku on Saturday, without really knowing what it was. Turns out it's the Beverly Hills shopping street of Tokyo, with all the Gucci and Louis Vuitton and all those stores. Great place to find souvenirs for all the peeps back home though. And I found a Wendy's, a hamburger chain they have in America but not in Holland. We're not missing out on much, believe me.

Walked up and down and around the area a few times, amazing to see how many foreigners there are here. Probably a lot of Americans and other foreigners who get sent here by their companies. So many it definitely disturbed the view of all the fashion conscious girls walking around here. Not to mention the awful sound of their American accents. Idiots.

Anyway, after that I found the signs to the Meiji Shrine which I also wanted to visit but by the time I got there it was closed. So I headed into the nearby park, relaxed there for a bit, and kept on walking. My random targetting lead me into a relatively quiet area of Tokyo, with very few shops and restaurants, but that's what you get if you walk around aimlessly I guess. I did end up on the dark side of Shinjuku though, which was also nice to visit.

I'm still hella tired, so Sunday will be a resting day for sure. Not sure what I'm so tired from, must be a lot of sleep I've missed over the past several months.

I just discovered something new, for me anyway, which is pretty amazing. The ice machine on my floor was empty, so I headed to another floor to raze the ice machine there and they had different machines! One was sort of a...meal machine! It has boxes of rice and curry and stuff like that, that heat themselves! Amazing!

Basically you open the box, move some stuff around, close it again and pull out a string on the side. This combines water with lime, which causes an exothermic reaction that has enough energy to heat the food! Amazing huh?! I don't know how it tastes yet, but I'll find out in a few minutes. Too vague? Read on here:

http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/?filnavn=/reviews/hotcan/hotcan_review.htm

Few minutes later: Hmm...maybe not THAT great. It works perfectly alright, but the rice stays in one big slab of rice, and the curry seems to be potato curry or something, because if this is meat....well anyway, I still really like the concept! But it could use a little work still....

Still tired apparently, but I was outside by 11:30 so it was better than yesterday.  I decided to head for the Nissan Gallery today, which meant I would have to start learning to use the subway. After heading to the station and buying a ticket I quickly discovered I bought a ticket for the wrong railway. Not that hard if you consider there are at least 12 different rail providers in Tokyo. Luckily the friendly people of Japan Railways helped me out, refunded my ticket, and sent me in the right direction.

After a few changes and a lot more help and refunds from JR people I arrived at Higashi-Ginza station and started walking around aimlessly looking for the Nissan Gallery. One thing that really caught my eye was how wealthy a neighbourhood this must be. You see lots of luxury cars with executives being driven around by their drivers, from huge Mercedes to Lamborghini's and everything! 

When I figured out I had been using the map upside down I quickly found the gallery, with all the new Nissan models and very hospitable multilingual ladies to show people around. There wasn't that much to see though, but they let you sit in the cars and look around as much as you like so I had a good time there. I also visited the second gallery, but that was very small with only two cars, more of a live advertisement I think.

Since it was still pretty early I decided to head to Akihabara today as well, the electronics district of Tokyo. It was amazing to see the size of some of the electronics stores, similar to Osaka, but a little bigger. I spent ages wandering around the different floors, looking for cool stuff and games and consoles. I picked up a really cool Final Fantasy X figurine and some stuff for the folks back home which I won't say anymore about.

I headed for the station to head back to the hotel, but it seemed to be rush hour and I didn't feel like getting in a crowded train, so I headed back to Akihabara and spent some time in the arcades. I didn't win anything this time, but it was still fun to see all the new types of games they have here. They also still provide lots and lots of ancient games too, I'd expect the Japanese to want more new games than old games to be honest, but Pachinko is definitely the all time favourite here!

Since it was a little later now the trains were less crowded and I headed back to the hotel (after buying a wrong ticket again of course) and here we are.

Tomorrow I hope to visit Tokyo Tower once I figure out where it is and I'll probably try some of the subway stations I recognize from PGR to see how well they copied the streets into the game  I have a lot more confidence I'll be able to buy the right tickets tomorrow, but we'll see. Time to relax my feet a little now (damn blisters) and get ready for an attempt at an early night again.  

Today was my final day with Hiro and his family. After packing up and saying goodbye to Aoi and Saki who were going to school, we got in the car and went on our way.

Takako had to go to work, so we dropped her off at the station, and headed to Nara, where they have a huuuuge temple with lots and lots of deer walking around. The deer are holy animals in Nara, so they just walk about (cars even give them right of way!) and do whatever they like while being fed cookies by the tourists. One tried to eat my clothes, but a few cookies soon solved that problem.

The temple was very impressive too, absolutely huge with an equally large Buddha statue inside. It must have been at least 30 metres tall, if not more. We walked around the rest of the temple area (I must have seen well over 200 deer there) and went for a spot of lunch.

After lunch it was time to go back to Osaka. We took the scenic route back (around the mountains, instead of through) which provided some great views of the city in the valley below. Hiro was kind enough to take me all the way to the platform and help me get on the right Shinkansen for my 300 kph trip to Tokyo! We said goodbye, and thus the adventure began.

The train was super fast, going top speed even through the built up area of Osaka. You don't really notice it much when you've reached the top speed, but we arrived at Kyoto in like 5 minutes, which took us almost an hour by car. After a few more stops and two and a half hours I arrived in Tokyo!

Sadly, I still had to take the subway to get to my hotel, right in the middle of rush hour. The metro system in Japan is very well organised, apart from the seating arrangements. To say I felt like a sardine in a can would be an understatement, it's more like standing at the front of a rock festival with people swaying from side to side along with the train. Still, I managed to make my way to the exit when it arrived at my stop and I got my first view of Tokyo City!

It took a little while to find the hotel since I headed off in the wrong direction first but with a few words of Japanese and some kind Japanese people I managed to find it well before 8 o' clock. I checked in and went for a small walk around the area, to get my bearings. I went for dinner, bought some snacks for in the hotel, and headed back. A bit later I went out again to explore some more, but I almost got lost so I should probably save that for the daytime tomorrow. Tokyo looks great at night in any case, lots of bright lights and people. I can still coun't the number of gaikokujin I've seen here on one hand though, maybe more tomorrow.

And now it's time to go to bed! More news tomorrow. I'm really not liking this blog, the picture support sucks, so I hope to spend some time moving it to a proper blog soon. That's all for now!

We got up early this morning because we expected to have a 3 hour drive ahead of us to an amusement park with at least 10 rollercoasters. Sadly, the weather in that area was very bad, so they expected they would have to close most of the rides. Instead, we decided to visit an amusement center in Kyoto, which was also a lot of fun!

At the amusement center they have pretty much every typically Japanese hobby covered. You can play on all kinds of arcade machines, pachinko, etc, but also sports like archery, rollerskating, squash and bowling, and even a huge manga library (biggest I've ever seen anyway). We mostly played arcade machines (see pictures) and after that we left for some lunch, before heading back to Osaka.

Today we got up quite early to be in Kyoto on time for the tea ceremony. After packing up we hit the road and arrived pretty much on time. Kyoto is a really nice city, very different from Osaka in the sense that there are temples and shrines dotted all over the place in between the skyscrapers and other modern buildings. For example, the tea room we went to was on the roof of a modern building. The ceremony was a great experience, not something I would have tried on my own I think. We were served tea by a hostess in kimono who explained everything and even let us make tea for each other. It was a very solemn ceremony with specific customs and movements for each part, I'm sure I made lots of mistakes but luckily that was no biggie.

After this we headed to the Heian Jingu shrine, a huge red shrine (see pictures). We didn't stay here very long though because we had to get to Nijo Castle, a beautiful terrain with lots of big trees and animals, and of course the castle itself. Apart from the gardens, the castle had the coolest feature: the floor panels are laid together in such a way that when you walk over them it sounds like birds singing. So if you've got 40-50 tourists coming through, it sounds like a regular jungle in there, which was pretty cool. We walked around most of the terrain, and left for our final cultural destination for the day: Rokuonji Temple

This temple was pretty damn amazing, since it's completely plated in gold (see pictures), and situated in a beautiful environment with lots of ponds and huge trees. We toured most of the grounds, and headed to back to the car to head to the ryokan!

The ryokan looked like a hotel from the outside, but the rooms were completely typically Japanese. Tatami mats on the floor, a step-up to take your shoes off and a tiny bathroom with a bath I couldn't have stretched my legs in in a thousand years. It was very comfortable though, and after freshing up we set off to the greatest dinner ever: a Korean barbecue!

Hiro's parents and a friend of theirs were going to meet us for dinner, and it was very nice to meet them. They were very kind and Hiro's father spoke English well enough for me not to have to stumble about in Japanese. The Korean restaurant was divided into separate rooms, so it's very private. We sat down for dinner at a low table and then the food just kept on coming (see picture).

First we had all kinds of beef parts, tongue, breast and then some chicken. Surprisingly I liked almost all of it, except some overly spicy Chinese cabbage (yep, kool) and a strange anchovy type fish which you eat whole. I even tried warm sake, which is VERY nice and smooth, nothing like gin or ouzo or anything, probably closer to gluwein. It was really special for me to experience such a truly Japanese style dinner with Japanese people, I don't think many tourists get that opportunity. After dinner, we went off in search for a nice Pachinko hall, Japan's most popular type of gambling.

In the Pachinko hall, Hiro's mum was kind enough to get me going with a little bet, and in a few tries I hit 777! Apparently I was really really lucky, so we took our winnings and left. Hiro's parents took care of the kids so me, Hiro and Takako could head for an arcade hall.

The arcade hall we went to (even though it was an official Namco hall) was absolutely huge. We're talking 6 floors with nothing but arcade machines, heaven! On the ground floor there were some grab-games like you see at the fair in the Netherlands as well, but these weren't rigged so I pulled out a super cool Goku figurine in no time! On the other floors we played Mario Kart 2 in multiplayer and the newest shooting games, again, something we could really use in the Netherlands.

I was still suffering from some jetlag, so I got to sleep in a little today which was a good thing. After a lovely mixed-style breakfast we set off for Osaka city center to do some sightseeing.

First we set off to the Panasonic Center, where all kinds of high tech developments are displayed. They had amazingly large tv's and all kinds of other futuristic applicances. Sadly we weren't allowed to take pictures there, but it was very interesting to see what kind of stuff we'll have in our homes in a few years. Videophone communication from the car to the house and remote security management and all that sort of thing.

After that we went to get some donuts for lunch (very popular in Japan!) and continued to Osaka Castle, which you can see in the picture here (pictures don't work yet, I'll add them later)

The kaiten-sushi place was another unique experience, we really could use something like that in the Netherlands. We were still a little late, so it was very busy since this kind of fast food is very popular in Japan. Basically the chefs just send out small portions of sushi on a conveyor belt which passes by all the tables in the restaurant. When you see something you like you take it off, and at the end you pay for the amount of plates you had, like with tapas. All kinds of food come along, salmon sushi, tuna sushi, but also cake and ice cream and bottles of beer. And if it takes too long for things to appear you can order them through a computer screen at the table and the next portion gets marked for you so everybody else keeps their hands off it! Pretty neat huh? It was really a superb meal.

After this we returned home for a relatively early night, since the next day we would go to Kyoto!

Hello everybody! I decided to make a Japan blog after all, since there is no way I'll be able to remember everything I see and do here. I've got some catching up to do, so I'd better get started:

I arrived yesterday, the 5th, at Kansai International Airport. Getting through customs with all my Dutch contraband was quite an ordeal. Since my friend Hiro asked me to bring some apples along that they don't have in Japan, I was basically smuggling illegal goods into the country. Nothing too serious though, but I did start to get worried when we were asked to fill out customs forms on the airplane.

I lied my ass off and said I had nothing illegal with me, which got me past the first few customs people without trouble. But after I picked up my luggage, some clever Japanese customs guy spotted me and decided it would be a good idea if I opened my luggage. EEK! Luckily he chose my suitcase, and not my backpack, or else he would have found the apples for sure. The suitcase was full of typically Dutch souvenirs, stroopwafels, Nijntje, wooden shoes etc, so I guess I made enough of a tourist impression to be allowed to walk on. Still, this is the first time I've had to open a suitcase for customs, so Japan definitely isn't the easiest country to smuggle things into.

Anyway, after that I had to make my way to Tennoji station to meet Takako, which was a bit of an adventure but worked out fine all the same. I managed to ask most of the stuff I needed to know in Japanese (the time, if I was on the right platform, etc.) but I still chose to get the ticket in English...better be sure you start with the right ticket eh

The train took me from Kansai to Tennoji in about 40-50 minutes, where I called Takako to pick me up.We went to a supermarket in Osaka, which is a unique experience in itself! It's amazing how different things are, so many different kinds of fully prepared food, there is no comparison with the microwave junk that is offered in Holland. Complete sushi meals and okonomiyaki and all kinds of entire fish and meat, it really was incredible. We did some shopping for dinner, and then went to Hiro's house where I was able to have a little nap to sleep off the jetlag.

In the evening we had a great fish stew and I went to bed early to catch up on the jetlag. So far, the most different thing has been how hi-tech EVERYTHING is. For example, I was just interrupted by an electronic voice in the living room telling me the bath had reached the desired temperature. I mean, come on! The car has digital television in the dashboard, camera displays for parking control, all the taps are automatic (EVERYWHERE!) and apparently the toilets even have functionality to 'wash your ass' as Hiro so subtly put it ;) Amazing stuff...Anyway, that's all for day one, time to get to bed. I'll catch up on day two tomorrow morning and I'll be sure to include some pictures then.