Day 10 – A day off

Today I say goodbye to Hiroshima and make my way to another old capital city of Japan, Kyoto.

This trip is best done by Shinansen and for JR-pass holders that means 2 trains! First the Sakura to Shin-Kobe and from there a Hikari to Kyoto. With a total travel time just over 2 hours this isn’t that bad.

In Kyoto station they have this handy board stalled out showing the status of the leafs at the moment. So it looks like I’m a bit too early for the red views.

 

Anyways, after I arrived in Kyoto I needed to kill some time until I could check-in. So I just strolled around with my luggage in the nearest shopping mall. Checking out the boardgame and toys sections.

Eventually I also settled down for something to eat.

 

 

After check-in I sought my way to the Pokémon center, the local animate and the Yellow Submarine. Passing by a small anime shop and a second-hand shelve rental space filled with anime figures.

To get there I passed Nishiki market and became part of the Human soup that is flowing trough this shopping district that is food heaven for people that care.

That’s practically it, a lazy and easy going day.

Oh yeah dinner was some Chicken Katsu Kare, at a curry chain.

Day 9 – Things that should never be repeated

Last day in Hiroshima! And I haven’t done anything yet that Hiroshima (unfortunately) is know for. Today I visited the Memorial Park and Hiroshima Castle.

To start the day of I headed to the Lawson next door to purchase me some breakfast. Then headed straight to the park as it was nearby.

As the name suggest this park is filled with monuments to mourn the lives lost by the atomic bombing. One central for al victims and some groups of people have a dedicated one. So is there one for all Koreans, all children and from a specific school that had children working near the ground zero.
On the other side of the river lies the ‘famous’ Atomic Dome. The last building standing in it’s state after the bomb was dropped. Contrary to what I believed at first this wasn’t the only building left standing. Just one they eventually chose to be preserved as a sign of peace and a call out that such things should never happen again.

The Museum at the front of the park was closed due to earthquake-proofing and renovations, so that was a bummer. But the information center about the victims was open, so I spent some time there watching and listening to reports about this sad time in history.

Lunch today was Yakisoba! Although had I know they gave free rice-refills before I ordered my meal at the machine. I probably would’ve went for a rice dish. This one was good, but nothing special to write about.

After lunch I made my way to some older culture. The Hiroshima Castle. When entering the premises of the castle you pass trough a side building and a temple before entering the castle garden. This castle isn’t as big as the ones I saw before. Inside it told the history of the castle and the many times it was rebuild. Most recently after the A-bomb.

 

After the castle I made my way to the shopping district visiting the shounen jump store, the Pokémon Center, yellow submarine and the local animate.

Then headed back to the hostel to see some League of Legends on the beamer. Unfortunately Fnatic (Europe) lost really hard to Invictus Gaming (China) in the finals of the world championship.

A bit down from the loss I wanted some comfort found and found that in the form of pasta. It wasn’t the greatest but what can you expect from Y400 pasta? Also ordered some garlic bread to finish off my meal.

 

Day 8 – I’m at the top now!

When people think of Japan, the first thing that pops up in their head is most of the time Tokyo or sushi. And when asking for a more cultural approach they’ll go for red gates know as Torii, with the gate in the water being the first one they get to know. Today was the day, I’d get to see this 16m tall giant in the world of gates.

Yesterday I asked the reception of my hostel what day would be the best to visit Miyajima. Friday or Saturday, as Saturday would be cloudy she said I should go on Friday. So morning came and I took off to Miyajima. Passed by a conbini to buy me some breakfast and make way to the trams.

A tram ride of 60 minutes later I arrived near the island, only had to take a ferry now towards the island. By now it should be low-tide when I arrived. And it was, this gave me the opportunity to check the Vermillion torii out from up close. Standing near it really makes you feel small.

This was the fist thing I said I would do when I decided to go to Japan, and I must say it was well worth it! I’d definitely come back again, if only for the gate itself!

I looked for a deer-less place to consume my egg-sandwich I bought for lunch. With a nice view at the torii and the accompanying shrine.

 

After ‘breakfast’ it was time to explore the island some more, I left the touristy shopping town-centre and went on the way to the aquarium and eventually took the Misen Hiking Trail – Omote route to the top of Mt. Misen (535meters). This path is known for the rock formations and the nature on the way. It didn’t take me long to see a group of deer and a resting Grasshopper near a patio. After that it was mostly rock formations and trees and little shrines in the rock formations.

The route was steep with a lot of big steps where throughout the years the centre piece of the stone has withered down. Increasing the height to sometimes nasty highs. This route is 3.2km long to the top of Mt. Misen. On the way I’d also get the opportunity to hike to the top of second mountain first. Mt. Komagabayashi, with it’s 509 meters top it’s only a few meters below Mt. Misen and still worth the sight. As there’s no special observatory there I actually liked it a bit more. Definitely worth those few extra meters on a dead end! Near here I consumed my lunch aka, melonpan. And proceeded my way to Mt. Misen.

When finally there  I bought myself a commemorative pin. As I do think this climb was worth all the effort. And it supports the cleaning-up of the site, so why not.

 

Now it was time to head back down. As I didn’t fancy walking down all the way again, albeit over a different path. I decided to take the rope way down. Little did I know the rope way was still a 30 minute walk. And the from the lowest rope way station there’s a bus to the city centre, every 20minutes. As as full bus just left I decided to walk the last part trough the Momojidani park.

By now the tide has turned and the torii can be seen floating in the water.

Back in the centre I made my way to the pier and took a ferry back to the mainland. As I noticed there was a JR railway station nearby I went there and took a train back to Hiroshima.

Time for dinner! As I am in Hiroshima I thought it would only be logical to try out some Okonomiyaki. Asked my hostel reception for a recommendation and went to Henkutsuya. I took a pork-egg-cheese-mochi Okonomiyaki. And truyh be told, I couldn’t even finish this thing.

Tomorrow it’s time for a history lesson about World War II

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 7 – Forest walk

Last day in Kobe, capsule didn’t come with breakfast so off I go to the nearest Famima. There I got myself some Green Tea and a Melonpan. Then it was time to travel to Shin-Kobe station where I had to take the Shinkansen to Hiroshima.

Arrived Shin-Kobe I put my luggage in a locker and searched for the entrance to the mountain path. Hidden behind the station. It’s really weird that you can just turn your back to civilization and be surrounded by nature in like a four minute walk? Anyways on the road to the top of the mountain you pass by a number of waterfalls with the biggest one being 42 meters high! In this mountain slope they also build a dam to keep a steady water-supply going.

On my way up I met a group of 5-7 year olds with their teachers? On a class trip to the dam. But woow are these tough kids. Some parts of the climb are very steep steps.

I should note that there’s also a ropeway that you can use to go the 450m up the mountain with a stop in the middle as the upper half of the way also hosts a herb garden.
I walked up all the way, ate lunch in the observatory and took the ropeway back to shin-kobe station.

When travelling by JR-pass the best way to go to Hiroshima from Shin-Kobe is by taking 2 Shinkansen, the Hikari to Okayama and change there to the Sakura. I believe you can also just take the Kodama, but that one is slower.

Anyways, arrived in Hiroshima I took the bus to my hostel for the next three nights. there I was greeted by the fellow on the right. Somehow it was already pretty dark at 17:00, I’m not used to that.

 

 

 

 

So in the dark I went to the shopping district, sought out some weeb stores and a place to eat.
Also noticed a Mahjong Zoo on the way there, maybe I should jump in there someday?

 

 

Day 6 – Kobe

I started today with the same breakfast as the past 2 days. Plan for the day, go to Kobe. That’s it, no further plans made. Get to Kobe and see what’s there to do.

So I took a JR train from Osaka to Kobe to be in the city centre immediately. Took a locker for my suitcase and started to explore the city.I went trough the shopping mall, found the Anpanman museum and trough there I found the way to the harbour which had some interesting sights.

One of them a memorial for the great earthquake in 1995. Which showed pictures both before and after the disaster struck. By now everything has been rebuild or replaced with new stuff except for one small part they left as it was after the accident.

There I also visited the Kobe Maritime Museum. It houses a lot of ship models. and I mean a lot. That wasn’t really my jam but linked to it was Kawasaki Good Times World. A museum about the Kawasaki corporation that had some nice attractions in it next to the company’s history.

By now it was nearing check-in time so I made my way back to the station. Passing by a statue of Elvis and treated myself to a fruit filled crêpe. Looks like it was nearing closing time as it was suddenly ‘crepe day’ – all crepes for Y330. “Lucky!”.
-small note: it should be illegal for kiwi to be frozen, bleegh…

Time for check-in into basicly another capsule hostel. As I was too lazy to walk there with my suitcase I took the subway.. but I’d probably have been there faster going by foot. Until I found the station 10 minutes had passed, then needed to wait on the next train. Ah well, I got there and that’s the most important part.

As the hostel is close to Kobe’s China Town (yes that exists!) I walked down the main road. It consisted of restaurants, restaurants and restaurants operated by various Asian ethnicities.

Back on the main shopping street in this district I settled for another restaurant where you order and pay at a machine. Really convenient! How the hell are you supposed to eat a fried egg with chopsticks? I cut off some egg white and eventually just slurped up the yolk and what was remaining from the egg white.

It wasn’t that late yet, but my feet hurt so I decided to just spend the night in my capsule, writing up this post and listening to some of the bands I got to know in Shibuya.

For what it’s worth, Kobe is a fine day-trip from Osaka or Kyoto. But I wouldn’t spend a night here again in a second trip.

Day 5 – Oh deer!

Last day in Osaka and I had to choose between Universal Studio Japan or Nara, the old capital.

On to the world heritage site it was, as I didn’t want to spend so much money on USJ.. and Nara wasn’t in my plan yet.

Although Nara is an old capital of the country, there wasn’t much there from those times. Except for the temple’s up north, of which a few (or all) are now world heritage. Nara in a few words: temple, deer, shrine, deer, deer, deer, museum, deer, temple, deer, shrine, deer, statue of a deer.

Near one of the temple’s I got interviewed by some kids on an English-speaking assessment. They had to ask us some questions and make us write our name and country of origin on their piece of paper. The old teacher in my really sees this as a great exercise. Both linguistically and for personal development. It takes some courage to ask some random stranger questions in a language you’re learning, especially at that age not all of them were as comfortable with it.

 

 

 

 

I walked here a ton trough the woods to find all kind of little shrines that practically all looked the same. Saw some birds and even a snake gliding trough the brushwood!

For lunch I went to a local burger restaurant. (Yeah yeah shame on me, fastfood while in Japan.) Tried out White Soda, probably the Calpis from Pepsi Corp… it was special, not going for a refill. A nice detail on the bun was the deer stamp. the fries sucked.

After spending most of the day in the neighbourhood of over a 1000 deer! I worked my way back to Osaka, for a second visit to Nanba. This time trying to walk correctly from the first time to Dotonbori. And I made it. this place is filled with food stalls, restaurants and bars. You need more than a life time to try out everything they offer in these streets. On one of the advertisement boards for a 7floor building I found the marks of an anime bar. But unfortunately it seemed like they were closed.

 

Dinner was Yakisoba, nothing special though…

 

 

 

 

Day 4 – Culture Trip ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Started today off pretty hard. Didn’t have much sleep thanks to light coming in and a snorer in the room. But I could be that same problem to someone else so I’m not even going to tell them about it. (Not like you can do anything about that..) and left my bed pretty late…

The included breakfast was just some toast. At least it was something, but after the rough night, it didn’t cheer me up.

Time for some culture today, with Osaka Castle on the schedule followed by a trip to Nanba.

So I took the train to Osakajokoen and walked trough the park. I was kinda happy to see a vending machine here that had some juice in it. Pokémon themed! Although I got a ‘special’ 6th-type Slowbro, or the advert is outdated…

The castle is surrounded by water with two bridges connecting the island to the mainland. I decided to first take the outer tour and inspect the walls, surrounding buildings and nature.
Near noon I’d finally enter the inner circle. But first checked out the ex-military building next to the castle. It now houses some shops and multiple restaurants.

After eating a cup of fried chicken pieces I entered the castle. As the elevator line was quite long I decided to do all 8 floors up by stairs. You can say it was a mistake.. but I was there faster at least? I got myself an audio guide and worked my way down in the museum. It had some nice artefacts from the old days but mostly poems written by important people that were somehow preserved over the years. -That was the temporary exhibition btw- The biggest show-piece is the 2 part screen that depicts multiple battles for the command over the Osaka tower. The 360 view on top of the tower is really nice.

So that was the traditional culture part done for today. I’d recommend doing it, but you definitely don’t have to see everything in the park. I tried to find my way back to a JR-train station for a way into the next stop, Nanba!

Getting to Nanba I did, getting lost there I did, asked a local for help I did, made it to Den Den Town I did. Am I in heaven now?

All bad English and jokes aside. Den Den Town can be called the geek-district from Osaka, the local Akihabara. And boy was it great. Anime stores 8 floors up, new and used-goods store, cardgame shops.. just soo much to see and especially in the second-hand stores the best deals are hidden behind the popular stuff.
Yes I let myself go for a moment, but with prices here that equals to about €35 for all this stuff. Katanagatari figures, Saki Soundtrack, Saki Achiga-hen Opening CD from the group, some Kamen rider Wizard Rings (Y50 a piece..), a ton of Weiss Schwarz Shakugan no Shana cards including some level 3’s so I can finally build this deck!, an OCG Mahjong Munia Maidens and the new fire charmer.
There was a lot more stuff I wanted to bring home with me. But I still have to travel a lot and it would be hard getting those home…

I had dinner at a Curry Chain in Fukushima, took pretty standard tonkatsu kare but it was already pretty late when I got back from Nanba, my feet hurt and this was on the way to my guest house.

 

Day 3 – How far can I push my luck?

Today would the best test towards how far I can push my luck. Leaving the foreigner friendly Tokyo for Osaka down in the South.

Breakfast was almost the same as yesterday, the fruit bagel was replaced by a ham & cheese one. Which I could only applaud! After breakfast it was time for a shower and check-out.

Time to travel to Osaka! But first I had to exchange my JR-pass. Best station to do that according to my travel route would be Shimbashi. After asking for the ticket office twice I found it and got helped pretty quickly there. Finding the correct platform didn’t prove any problem either. On my way there I picked up some stuff to eat & drink.

On to the Shinkansen! Think I had to wait only 15minutes for a Hikari Shinkansen. Which wasn’t that bad.

During the 3 hour travel I wrote up the last blog-post as I had the time then. The start of the travel there wasn’t much to see outside either, and I had a pathway seat. Halfway the gentleman in the window seat left and I could take that spot (and the power supply!).

Now it was time for the Melonpan I picked up to be consumed. To my surprise, this one wasn’t as expected. It was filled with peanut butter… bleegh.
I payed for it, so I finished it,but next time I’ll pay a bit more attention to the packaging to stop this stuff from happening.

Arriving in Osaka I quickly noticed it was a lot cooler than in Tokyo. Walking around in my T-shirt was quickly out of the question. I went to my hostel to check-in and returned to Osaka Station as it is home to the Osaka Pokémon Center. Found there this weird Mahjong-looking game. But it’s more off a 20-games-in-one-box thing, using tiles.

After a brief visit it was time for my usual stroll around the area. Found some nice viewing spots. With gardens on buildings, really crazy stuff. Back on the ground I found this pathway dedicated to Billiken filled with restaurants and an arcade hall.  the poor fellow can’t touch the soul of his foot, so if you scratch it for him, he’ll bless you with good luck.
Tried my hand on a crane game for a Roy Mustang Figurine, but to no avail 🙁
There was even this one game, where you’re simulating being a train driver. With pedals, levers and all. It had even a manual with it to properly explain how things worked.

Dinner time! This time a combination of my last 2 real meals, Udon noodles with curry sauce. I’m not really a foody, but this was just fine. Nothing special to write about actually. Except that these buggers are slippy as hell.

That was my first day in Osaka.

Oh yeah, before I forget. At one point there was a Giratina raid going on, you could hardly pass this mass of people. Some even had five cellphones on them.

 

Day 2 – Music please

Today (27/10/2018) was a special day, last Animecon I got to know an idol band under the name NECRONOMIDOL. After reading up on them afterwards I got more interested in them. And if possible I wanted to see them again, if my schedule allowed for it.
So when preparing my trip and trying to make the best out of my 14-days JR Pass. It didn’t look very good. All shows announced at the time where all in Tokyo when I’d want to be outside Tokyo. And they even just announced an US-tour during the time I’d be in Tokyo.

But then a few weeks ago, the announcement came. They’d be joining in a day-long event spread over 3 venues. And I was in Tokyo then, so yeah I just HAD to go then. So I did, pre-ordered my ticket to get a sweet Y300 off. And I was good to go.

So, morning came. As usual I snooze a bit too long and it’s 9 o’clock before I realized it. But the first night in Tokyo was over. Went downstairs for a late breakfast.


It consisted off a bagel, minestrone soup, potato salad and 3 grapes. I also had a bowl of cereal together with a cup of hot chocolate.

 

NECRONOMIDOL wouldn’t be playing until the afternoon, but I looked up some of the other groups beforehand and decided on one I wanted to see. So it was time to head out to Tokyo Milky Way, the first stop. The easiest subway to take would be the Hanzomon-line all the way to Shibuya. For that I’d have to enter it at a station I found last night. It wasn’t that long a walk. And it saved me a few Yen and the hassle of changing trains.

First thing I saw when exiting the station, a friggin platelet cosplayer. I was surprised as I recently saw a Facebook post about cosplayers and THE rules in Japan. But then I remembered it was the weekend before Halloween, that in combination with it being Shibuya should be an OK, I guess?

I easily found my way to the venue passing by many more people dressed up, but when I arrived at the Milky Way, they asked for a bracelet I didn’t have yet. Sow.. concert missed. But they’d be playing again later that day at another venue. So first thing I did then was going out to get my bracelet at WOMB. Check-in went smooth. And I checked out some groups that were playing at the moment. The atmosphere was great in the room. It was crazy to see how organized some of the fangroups were. Lifting up people on the beat, getting them so close to the artists I’m amazed they didn’t touch them. Or at some point a group of three became five, as two guys stood in front of the stage looking at the public and performed the dance exactly the same.

Last night I found out the adapter I got to plug in my appliances didn’t work for my laptop. So I had to go and get a second one. Which I didn’t find, but I did find a plug changer for my charger. And it was even cheaper than all USB-plugs I could find. But if I could charge my laptop then I could charge my phone trough it in emergency situations. Also bought myself an external battery-pack. As I didn’t need it in Tokyo, but I’m expecting to use my phone a lot more in the other cities. So better be safe than sorry!

Shopping trip done, time to head back and get lost in Shibuya station. At one moment you have the Exit sign. And after that only line numbers, but nowhere a mention of the exit. Found another way out and took the crossing. Yes the famous one, where there is a diagonal crossing. Or at the moment I was there, 2 diagonals. People were just going everywhere, taking up the whole intersection.

I was getting hungry by now, so I entered a random restaurant and got me some Katsu Kare. It is so different from the one I’m used to at Wagamama. More ingredients in the curry sauce. It filled so well I couldn’t finish my miso soup.

With that done it was time to head back and get my second filling of Japanese music for the day. The shows were filled with talented groups (as otherwise they wouldn’t be in this Halloween special) but if I had to be really honest. Most of them sound pretty much the same, or at least they do to me, someone that probably can’t recognize the small intricacies that come with each sound. And I’m sorry if I offended anyone by saying this. As it was a Halloween special some of the groups wore something different from usual but it did look like they went shopping at the same store as I saw some duplicate costumes over all groups I watched.

Eventually it was time for my main act, the girls from NECRONOMIDOL. It was extra special as yesterday they announced the graduation of two members. A common thing in this world, but this group of five has been like this for 2 years by now. But I’m glad I got to see these five perform once more today. I even went to both shows and had a small talk with one of their helpers Derek, when I was buying their new CD.

The shows were over, get to know a lot of new bands I’ll have to add them all to a YouTube playlist or the like when I find the time.

It was already past nine, so time to head back to the hostel but not before I finished this bowl of Ramen.

Another thing about Halloween is that apparently all trike modders are driving around showing their pimped-up trike. I saw some amazing things, but they were just passing by so I couldn’t take a picture.

Now it really was time to go to the hostel, I said goodnight to Hachiko, boarded my train and walked back to the hostel. There I tried out the new power supply for my laptop. And as you’re reading this, it worked!

I tried to look-up some information for my trip tomorrow but somehow the internet didn’t want to work with me that moment, as it was getting late I just went to bed. As I had plenty of time tomorrow to write up this blogpost while I’m on the Shinkansen.

Day 1 – Finally here

Yeah 2 blogposts short after each other. Blame timezones I guess.

Anyways the wait in Beijing went flawless the same counts for the flight.

26 hours later than planned, I arrived in Narita and got interviewed by TV Tokyo – for the program where they ask foreigners why they’re arriving in Japan. No clue when that’ll air. But I’d rather not see that mess back :p

I purchased myself a data sim (a decision I already regret, at my hostel they offer a cheaper and better plan, well shit happens I guess.) and made my way to the hostel. The train ride was a breeze.

After check-in I went to the mini-stop at the corner to get some dinner. I didn’t need much as I was still stuffed from the airline food.

I almost went full weeb mode (didn’t see any Ramune) Yakitori were decent, the DBS cent-waffer is okay. The apple water lacks any kind of apple. But got a weird after taste instead. Nice experiment, but I’ll pass next time. The card I got from the waffer is the same as the packaging, a Gold Rare apparently.

Then I went on a stroll with no real destination, except back to the hostel.
On my walk I noticed a ton of mini-supermarkets and vending machines. Even the local book store was still open at 19:00.

I somehow managed to find my way back, but now I think it’s time to go and get some sleep. As tomorrow is one of the few planned headliners of the trip ^^

The bed is.. well just long enough for me. I know some people that wouln’t fit in here.