28th August 2015: Matsushima and Sendai {Japan, summer 2015}

Posted on by

The day started in Matsushima [松島], the Pine Islands, where there are… lots of pines. And temples. We paid the small fee to cross the bridge to the biggest island, Oshima [雄島] and headed off there, to just walk around it. There were pines and other trees, but I am no tree expert, so… I could identify the pines… However, there were nice views and it was a good way to start the morning, even if I was not feeling 100%, as I had a small accident coming out of the station that ended up with me sprawled on the floor. Not fun.

This bridge survived March 11, although a smaller similar one was destroyed. In general, the area was quite spared by the tsunami.

A walkable bridge with concrete ground and vermillion guards that crosses the bay towards a rocky island with small pines

View from Oshima into the bay:

A view of the bay. There are pine branches in the foreground, and two small rocky islands with more pines

After the main island, we visited a few of the temples around. First, Zuigan-ji [瑞巌寺], which has some really cool cave altars.

A standing Buddha in front of a cave sanctuary.

Entsuin [円通院] – Mausoleum of Date Mitsumune.

Main building of a temple. It's made of wood so old that it has turned white-grey

Back in Sendai, our first stop was the combini Ōsaki Hachimangū [大崎八幡宮], also known as the Black Shrine, as it was supposedly erected to enshrine the kami of war. It was ordered by Date Masamune, who was a very important figure in the history of feudal Sendai.

Shrine, built in black with golden decoration

Though we did not make it to Date’s mausoleum, we did see the sculpture erected in his honour up on the ruins of Aoba-jō [青葉城]. Here are the Date Masamune memorial on the ruins of Aoba Castle

Statue of a samurai, riding a horse. The samurai has a crescent decoration on his helmet. The horse is mid-step, with its front right leg bent

View of Sendai from Aoba Castle:

A view of the skyline of Sendai with a line of trees in front of it

Afterwards, we headed back to the station as we had to catch the 19.30 train, since we had an appointment in Ginza [銀座] at 22.00. We had a reservation for VAMPS Joysound special karaoke booth, which was normal karaoke, but in a room decorated with VAMPS stuff and a special video, along with some themed drinks. Just one of those cute fandom money-drainers activities.

The Vamps karaoke booth and theme drink

27th August 2015: Foxes everywhere {Japan, summer 2015}

Posted on by

Zao Kitsune Mura [蔵王きつね], the Fox Village in Zao is as its name says, a fox village. There is about a hundred foxes running around, chewing your shoelaces and marking territory. It’s like the deer of Nara, in foxy form.

Zao is located close to the city of Sendai [仙台], up north of Tokyo, and here I ended after a couple of bumpy train rides to meet with D****e at Shiroishi station. We took a taxi to get there.

The Fox Village is located in the mountains, about 20 minutes away from the town. There is an outer part which consists on a sort of petting zoo, some baby foxes and the hospital. You’re not allowed to pet the foxes without permission though, because they have, you know… teeth. There is also a badger (for some reason), some rabbits and goats. In that area you can take pics holding and petting the foxes for a fee.

Once you go into the main area, you find yourself in a large yard where there are… 100? 200 foxes? There are different colours of foxes, even if all of them are “red foxes” they have different coats: standard red, white, black (technically called ‘blue foxes’ apparently?), mixed colour (called ‘ice and fire’ or something because why not?).

You’re allowed to feed the foxes from a platform / shed as long as you don’t touch them, and you’re supposed to stay still when they try to chew you cross your path.


The area is separated into a small zone for the cubs, an acclimation area for the ‘teens’ and the main freedom yard.

There the foxes have got… well, I’m not even sure of how to call them, so just have a few pictures. As long as you follow the rules and don’t freak the foxes out, you can get pretty close to them, which is amazing. We tried not to disturb them while they ate, either.

The weather was miserable though so you see some dry foxes and a lot of wet foxes. There was a very wet me in-between too. And well, the foxes were fascinated by D****e’s clothing and kept trying to eat her. However, my mission was to ‘take pictures first, rescue her later’.

There is also a little shrine with space inside for the foxes to sleep.

At the end you’ve got a bittersweet feeling because you’re not allowed to take any home (T_T) I just wanted one or twenty…

The day ended with yummy gyutan (grilled cow tongue), a walk throughout the covered Sunmall Ichibancho [サンモール一番町] commercial galleries and some Chupacabra hunting in an UFO machine downtown Sendai.

26th August 2015: Kobe – the calm before the storm {Japan, summer 2015}

Posted on by

Before setting off to Kobe, there was one stop in Kyoto I had to make: Kyoto [京都]’s Seimei Jinja [晴明神社] which enshrines the soul of Abe no Seimei, reportedly the most powerful onmyōji Japan has had. He lived in the mid Heian Kyo as was the main actor in the union of the Shinto church and the state. He has been widely used in fiction as his figure seems to be half historical – half fictional anyway (Note to self: you’re still missing the Osaka Seimei Jinja). The shrine is built where he lived in Kyoto, quite close to the Imperial Palace itself. I am quite happy I got to go there alone, because the level of fanbying I achieved in that place might be embarrassing ^^”

After taking pictures to my heart’s content – getting the shrine’s seal, an omamori, and getting a free sticker because I was a foreigner, I went back to the station and took a Shinkansen to Kobe [神戸]. Kobe is one of the most important ports in Japan, and in 1995 was hit by a major earthquake which displaced areas of the city up to 6m to the sides. It is quite a new town, and it was very calm for what was about to happen. The next day, the most important yakuza gang in the country, based in Kobe, was about to split into different syndicates.

I wandered Kobe for a while, saw the clock flower and the eternal flame to commemorate the deaths from the quake and eventually made my way back to the harbour and Meriken Park. A part of it has been left as a memorial, never to forget the destruction caused – the Memorial in Meriken Park [メリケンパーク]. The Meriken Park Earthquake Memorial is eerie somehow.

After seeing the memorial, I could already scout the Kobe Port Tower. I got a combined ticket to see the Tower and the adjoined museum – Maritime Museum and Kawasaki Museum. From the Tower I got quite a good view of the whole city and the harbour. It is quite humbling to think about that nature did to the city, and what could happen again any time. No pictures allowed in the Maritime Museum though, so I just bring you some pictures from the top of the tower.

After Kobe Tower, I made a stop in Sannomiya Jinja [三宮神社].

Then I headed off to have a look at the local Chinatown and the local shopping street/gallery – Motomachi Shopping street [神戸元町商店街].

Chinatown had mostly food stalls, and I was not hungry – and I have already tried Kobe beef and know that I can’t afford the real good stuff, so after wandering around for a bit, I decided to head off to Ikuta Jinja [生田神社], the most important shrine in downtown Kobe, and quite in the lovey-dovey date couply future prayer. Not for me, but very very beautiful shrine.

And then I headed to check in the hotel and start a bit of a train nightmare that I won’t write about in hopes to forget eventually. Thus tomorrow we shall start with the arrival in Sendai.

25th August 2015: Arashiyama & Nara {Japan, summer 2015}

Posted on by

Today was a delayed day, actually, as I apparently took over the plans I made last year when VAMPS had the secret live and I skipped back to Tokyo to attend to it. Then again, as I had changed plans from yesterday to today, everything came a little jumbled.

After a nice chat with the Tourism Office lady – in broken Japanese, as I did my best, the fist thing I set off to do was visit the Arashiyama bamboo grove in Arashiyama Chikurin no Shōkei [嵐山 竹林の小径], which is a nice little town adjacent to Kyoto (yep, not a neighbourhood. A town all on its own. That’s Japanese urban planning for you). I had been wanting to visit the area for a while now, and finally made it there. After a nice detour – because taking the wrong turn in Japan always yields to something interesting (then again, people, placing sings of ‘bamboo grove this way’ right behind the map is not helpful, Japan) – and a couple of temples I ended up where I wanted to be, and boy was it impressive.

In the middle of the bamboo grove we find Nonomiya Jinja [野宮神社], a nice little shrine which was at the time overridden by Chinese tourists (that happens, apparently, when you visit a shrine dedicated to marriage).

After a couple of hours wandering the bamboo grove I head back to Kyoto station and once again took the Nara line, only this time I would not be stopping in Inari as I have done before, but took the express to Nara [奈良] itself, which was something else that had been on my list for a while.

Yet another nice Tourism office lady, and way too many Spanish tourists later, I was on my way towards Nara Kōen [奈良公園], Nara Park, where my first impression was one of the things that makes Nara famous… deer. Hundreds of ‘wild’ deer which chase after tourists to get shika senbei (deer crackers) and eat maps when said crackers are not available. Very cute, very… adamant XD

But not my main visiting goal, never mind the creepy American dude who wanted to take a picture of me with them. My goal was visiting the to visit Todai-ji [東大寺] temple, and Daibutsu [大仏] (Giant Buddha) it hosts. Todai-ji did not disappoint me at all. It is a very solemn, very special temple and I enjoyed it.

I wandered around the Nara complex for a while and visited Kofuku-ji [興福寺] on my way back. They have a very famous Ashura sculpture, and a thousand-arm Buddha statue, but no pictures allowed, so I can only show you the exterior.

After some dinner on my way back, I headed off for Kyoto and the hotel which I was to leave the next day to head off to Kobe.

24th August 2015: Up and down Fushimi Inari Taisha (Kyoto) {Japan, summer 2015}

Posted on by

Still sore and a little sunburnt from the Beast Party, I woke up early-ish on Monday to make use of my JR Pass and head off to Kansai, namely Kyoto [京都]. It was as always both a short and long ride and for the first time I did it with a reserved seat, as I gave myself the exercise of trying to talk to the reservation people. It did not go too well, but I managed my reservation.

Upon arrival in Kyoto I changed my original plans – again – due to – again – rain forecast. So instead of what I had planned, I changed into shorts, put on my cap, and armed with onigiri and coke, I set up to top Inari-san [稲荷山], Mount Inari. You see, I have been to Fushimi Inari Taisha [伏見稲荷大社] before, twice, and both times I had to give up halfway because heat. Both times I tried to stick with healthy stuff – isotonic drinks and so, rest, and do things correctly. This time, I bought water, coke, snacks and onigiri, allowed myself to rest, but not to sit down and finally managed to do the whole thing, snacking on onigiri and crisps as necessary and pushing forward. I am quite surprised my clothing survived, too.

I started down at the big torii and the honden.

This is the pond where I usually kinda collapse XD but this time I made it through.

Kyoto view from Yotsu-tsuji, halfway up.

Itchinomine (First Summit)

Proof, in case you doubted me…

Fox temizuya (purifying fountain):

Down the other side:

By the time I was done, I may have been able to head off to another shrine, as I took less time than I had expected, but I decided that I’d better get some rest and get ready for the next day. After all, this was supposed to be ‘relaxing vacation’.

… Yeah, I don’t believe that either.

22nd & 23rd August 2015: VAMPS XV Beast Party {Japan, summer 2015}

Posted on by

Early on Saturday morning we headed off to Makuhari [幕張] in Chiba [千葉] for the VAMPS Beast Party, which took place that weekend. This is a festival-style concert and you are supposed to stay there the whole day having fun and doing stuff. There are games and food stalls, and maybe when it is near a beach it can be entertaining enough, but for me it did not feel like something I would like to repeat.

The concerts themselves were not bad, but the experience itself was rather lacking – maybe my expectations were too high, and I was very far away from the stage (my tickets were round de 8000 entry order). I also got stuck with people I did not know for for a good part of the time, and my Japanese skills did not allow for much communication, so it became a pretty uncomfortable couple of days, which did not help much.

The grounds of the Party: a flag, the entrance, the stage, final fireworks. The logo of the whole thing is a skull with a pirate hat and eyepatch

Saturday 22 August 2015 Setlist

  1. I GOTTA KICK STAR’T NOW
  2. AHEAD
  3. HUNTING
  4. ANGEL TRIP
  5. TROUBLE
  6. COSMOS
  7. LOVE ADDICT
  8. HELLO
  9. Arimatsu drum mix solo
  10. 夏祭り (a Capella)
  11. EVERGREEN (acoustic)
     
    – MC: summer memories-

  12. THE JOLLY ROGER (acoustic)
  13. MY FIRST LAST (acoustic)
  14. ZERO
  15. DEVIL SIDE
  16. EVIL
  17. THE PAST
  18. GET AWAY
  19. MEMORIES
  20. Live Wire (with special guest: Kiyoharu)
  21. SANDY (with special guest: Kiyoharu)
  22. SEX BLOOD ROCK N’ ROLL
 Sunday 23 August 2015 Setlist

  1. REVOLUTION II
  2. AHEAD
  3. HUNTING
  4. ANGEL TRIP
  5. TROUBLE
  6. SEASON’S CALL
  7. I GOTTA KICK START NOW
  8. HELLO
  9. Arimatsu drum mix solo
  10. 夏祭り (a Capella)
  11. EVERGREEN (acoustic)
     
    – MC: summer memories-

  12. THE JOLLY ROGER (acoustic)
  13. MY FIRST LAST (acoustic)
  14. ZERO
  15. DEVIL SIDE
  16. EVIL
  17. THE PAST
  18. GET AWAY
  19. MEMORIES
  20. LOVE ADDICT (with special guest: Ken)
  21. HONEY (with special guest: Ken)
  22. SEX BLOOD ROCK N’ ROLL

21st August 2015: Shibuya and Shinjuku {Japan, summer 2015}

Posted on by

I was to meet with D****e in Shibuya [渋谷] as she was coming directly from Haneda that day and we had arranged to meet in Tsutaya – there would be Hachiko meeting point later on, but we wanted something covered, just in case the skies opened.

As it takes a bit to get from Satte to any place downtown Tokyo, I organised myself to be out of the door with enough time to find myself a shrine to visit. Because yes, I can find shrines anywhere in Tokyo and beyond and after a while walking through skyscraper-type buildings, I turned a corner to the Konnō Hachiman-gū [金王八幡宮], which I had not been able to find the previous year due to an Internet failure. I’m still torn about going to Yasukuni Shrine, by the way, which would have been another of my options. On one hand, I would like to come back and get a calligraphy seal; on the other, it would feel like condoning the whole thing Yasukuni means and… I don’t know, I think I have to think harder about that, especially with Abe’s whole revisionist attitude. Meanwhile, this is Konnō Hachiman-gū (which was being repaired so loop-sided picture not to bother the workers), and the little Inari altar located next to it.

Once the shrine fix was achieved – come on, it was my third day already!! – I headed back to Shibuya [渋谷] to meet with D****e and as I walked back I saw something I had not noticed before, as it had been on the opposite side of the direction I was heading. However, now I could see it straight ahead.

The L’Arc~en~Ciel’s L’ArCasino billboard. Pictures happened. Maybe some inner fanbying too. Did I mention I love my new camera? Cause I do, a lot.

After a while doing experiments with the zoom, I headed off for the Tsutaya floor we were going to meet in, and barely had the time to check out the stuff before she arrived. Afterwards we headed off for the Book Off (which… is changing names?) because we could, and afterwards to the BIC Camera so she could pick up her own SIM card.

She wanted to check out a Shinjuku [新宿] kimono store to see if she found VAMPS’ bat yulata, but we were out of luck and it was already gone. And then there was karaoke, because for some reason there’s always karaoke with her in Shinjuku?

And then there was home and CocoCurry. Finally CocoCurry ♥

20th August 2015: Still life, moving life {Japan, summer 2015}

Posted on by

As predicted, the 20th dawned rainy and not too inviting, so I headed off to Ueno Park to visit one of the many museums there. I heard that the collection of the Kokuritsu Kagaku Hakubutsukan [国立科学博物館], Tokyo’s National Museum of Nature and Science had been renewed and I wanted to have a look. In the end, not much had changed, but I still had a fairly good time, because I am a geek like that. There were about three million primary school classes there, though, and a few high school ones, which was a bit annoying – and loud – but nothing too bad.

Some of the wards mix science with mythology and culture, for example the earthquake science area has an ukiyo-e of the god Suzano keeping Namazu, the giant catfish which causes earthquakes, still. As much as the bio area is cool, I think my favourite part of this museum is the fossils collection – which is scattered in different wards in what I assume has some logic but I am yet to find it. I am particularly taken by the Dunkleosteous glass panel, and of course (insert everyone who knows me going ‘duh’ here) the Megalodon teeth.

But kinda a lot of things are cool. Like dinosaur fossils. Which make you giggle when you’ve recently watched Jurassic World. There is a plesiosaur (which, by the way, is not a dinosaur). What is a dinosaur is, of course, the T-rex (#TeamTRex) – completely irrelevant information: it is a cast of Scotty, the largest T-Rex ever found.

After finishing in Ueno and getting into the wrong station – of course, that must happen at least once when I am in Japan, I headed off to Tokyo Skytree [東京スカイツリー] in Sumida [墨田] just because I could.

I did not want to climb it up, but there was something there that had been on my to-see list, Sumida Suizokukan [すみだ水族館], Sumida Aquarium. Apparently there is a tacit agreement among Japanese aquariums so each one has a super cool thing that only they’ve got. So they are like pokemon, you gotta see them all if you wanna catch all the cool things. In this case I was aiming for the giant isopods. But of course, I never say no to sharks, even with annoying kids screwing up the pictures.

And then there was sushi, and that was goooood.

… Maybe I should have titled this post “fish in every form”?

19th August 2015: Kickstart in Minato (not Ueno for a change) {Japan, summer 2015}

Posted on by

After I don’t want to think about how many hours of travelling, a quite narrow connection and too many superhero films on the plane, I landed at Narita and got my suitcase. No problem through customs though I was quite surprised when the guy tried Spanish with me. That took a bit to register.

I had ordered my SIM card online, to pick up at the post office at Narita Airport, and then I had my first run-in with Japanese maps. Ah, the lovely Japanese maps. You gotta love them. Once located where the hell I was and which of the corridors I had to wlak, picking up the SIM was easy and efficient.

After that, I got my JR pass and my NEX ticket at the Narita JR office, recharged the Suica and and I set off towards Tokyo. During the NEX trip I took the time to exchange SIMs and get my internet connection up and running so I did not get too lost around. My original plan had been runnign to the Natural History Museum in Ueno, but the weather was nice and there was rain announced for the next day, so I changed plans on the fly.

I left my suitcase in Tokyo Station because I was not sure that it would fit in the coin lockers and there is a manned storage there. Fortunately, it did fit, and I set off towards Minato [港] to say hi to Tokyo Tower [東京タワー], Zojo-ji [増上寺], Shiba Koen [芝公園]. Just because I could.

I really like this view of Zojo-ji and Tokyo Tower.

The altar in Zojo-ji (sneaky pic):

Ema tablets and Mizuko belonging to Zojo-ji:

Small Buddhist altar in Shiba Koen, Nyoirinkanzeon [如意輪観世音].

Kumano Jinja [熊野神社]:

Shiba Koen view, along with a certain tree I really like:

The cicadas’ singing was deafening, but welcoming, and I spent the morning and early afternoon in Shiba Koen and the lower / free levels of Tokyo Tower, also getting used to my new camera – which I love, by the way. Afterwards I headed off to pick up my luggage and… well no, that’s not true.

As it was getting hot and I still had an hour to kill, I dropped by Akihabara [秋葉原]. It is not my favourite part of town but it was quite close to where I was and there is a nice Book Off, where my first shopping of the trip took place. I love the new ‘maxisingles’ section, makes everything so convenient.

Then I did head off to pick up my luggage – and had a bit of trouble locating my coin locker because Japanese stations have levels. Urgh. Afterwards I did head towards Satte in Saitama, as would be staying with a friend there. Then there was some food, and one of those flavours that I always associate with Japan – the strange veggies / fruits juice they have at the GUSTO drink bar. And then bed because excitement can only compete against jumping over half the world for so long and there was stuff to do the next day. Mainly fossils.

3rd – 5th July 2015: Japan Expo in Paris (France)

Posted on by

I went back to France rather unexpectedly because VAMPS announced an appearance at Japan Expo, a Japanese Culture convention held in Parc des Expositions de Paris-Nord Villepinte. I flew in on Friday and as I had time, I decided to go to the Louvre museum. I discovered the automatic ticket selling machine, so my queue was unexpectedly short once I was out of the security waiting area. I geeked out to my heart’s content and I reflected on how I had got used to geeking out alone and how comfortable I felt compared to my first time alone in a museum, back in the Dark Ages when I was 14.

Different exhibits of the Louvre: bronze sculptures, Egyptian sarcophagi, sitting scribe, Babylonian bulls, a marble, bathtub, Venus de Milo, Eros and Psyche, Victory of Samothrace

The following day I met up with some friends at the Japan Expo for the VAMPS concert act that had been organised. Japan Expo is one of the biggest European conventions about manga, anime, Japanese culture and everything in between, including concerts, food stalls, merchandising, and so on. The concert in itself was all right – one of the shortest ones I’ve attended, but in the end it was “just” an act in something bigger. I wish they had talked about the Sunday autograph possibilities earlier, though, because I could not attend due to my flight being in the morning.

Vamps promo claiming they were the guests of honour

3rd April 2015 (Good Friday): Carcassonne {France, Easter 2015}

Posted on by

For my final day we went to visit the nearby town of Carcassonne, which is famous for having a medieval fortified citadel, the Cité de Carcassonne , which can be traced back 2,500 years, to the Gallo-Roman period. It’s been a Unesco Heritage Site since 1997.

We wandered around the citadel for a few hours, and we had lunch, the famous (so I was told, I had no idea at the moment) cassoulet, made with white beans, duck confit, sausages, pork and mutton, served in a cassole. I remember this as super heavy but I have this obsession to eat everything I’m served, so I finished it – maybe I shouldn’t have.

Placed we visited included the Château Comtal, the Counts’ Castle, dating from the 12th century…

… the walls…

… The former cathedral of Carcassone, the Basilica of Saints Nazarius and Celsus…

The Église Saint-Nazaire, the church of Saint Nazaire…

… the Porte Narbonnaise, one of the castle gates…

… and the Cimetière de la Cité, the graveyard.

After that, we headed back to the train station and back to Toulouse as the following day I was flying back home, and France said goodbye with a neat sunset.

2nd April 2015 (Maundy Thursday): Here Be (rust) Dragons {France, Easter 2015}

Posted on by

We spent the day in Toulouse for several reasons – I had been doing a lot of driving and I did not feel like moving, among them. However, we were not going to stay at home all day, so mid-morning we headed off to one of Toulouse parks, the Jardin Compans Caffarelli, which features some sculptures such as a dragon made out of metal scrapes.

And also, there is an area landscaped as a Japanese garden, the Jardin Japonais.

Then we took the tram and went to the The Aeroscopia museum because my friend was interested in planes, and we got to see a bunch of aircraft both modern and classical designs.

1st April 2015 (Spy Wednesday): Saint Malo & Nantes {France, Easter 2015}

Posted on by

We got up on to see sunrise (okay, not really sunrise but early morning) at the ocean before we headed off.

Our first stop was Saint-Malo, yet another fortified city by the sea. It can be traced to the 1st century, but the modern Saint-Malo is cemented on a 6th century monastery. In the 19th century, Saint-Malo was a nest of pirates, and it was destroyed during WWII, but rebuilt shortly afterwards.

We left the car in the outskirts of town and we headed towards the actual walled city, coming across the Etoile du Roy ship first. The Etoile du Roy is a sixth rate frigate with three masts, built in imitation of a warship from the Nelson era. Today it can be rented for events.

We reached the walls and headed off to the beach where the Fort National stands.

We strolled around for about an hour or so, and I really liked the old city.

After a while, we walked back towards the city and saw the Cathédrale Saint-Vincent-de-Saragosse de Saint-Malo and the remains of the cloister. The building was originally Romanesque / Gothic, but it was damaged during WWII, and rebuilt in the late 20th century.

We had lunch in a Japanese restaurant because when we went into the tourist centre we found a visiting card, then we headed back towards the city of Nantes. The drive towards the city was all right but entering the centre was nightmarish, as we got caught in rush hour. We went to the cathedral, the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Nantes, a Gothic building that was started early in the 15th century but was not finished until almost the 20th!

Afterwards, we moved on towards the Château des ducs de Bretagne, a reconstruction of the castle of the Dukes of Brittany, a thirteenth-century fortress.

Finally we pumped some petrol, returned the car, paid for the extra kilometres we had driven, and took a plane back to Toulouse to just have a snack and get to bed.

31st March 2015 (Holy Tuesday): Driving through Medieval Towns and Salt Marshes {France, Easter 2015}

Posted on by

In the morning we set off towards the north of France through the provinces of Brittany and Normandy. There were not that many cars on the road so that was good, because the car was a scale up from what we wanted, and I had to get used to driving a bigger car than I am used to. And I’m bloody short so using a higher car was… a challenge. After a couple of hours we had to take a break because my leg was cramping.

Eventually we got to Gérande, which is a Medieval fortified town dating from the Wars of Succession. We walked around for a while and had breakfast, and saw a lot of speciality shops, among them lots selling salt. Here’s the La porte Saint-Michel, the main gate.

But, why salt in the shops, you may ask? Because Gérande has been famous for its salt marshes since the 19th century. And of course we made a stop to visit the Salt Marshes of Gérande. Did I mention “of course”?

Our destination for the day was Le Mont-Saint-Michel, the mount of Saint Michael (Unesco World Heritage Site). It is a tidal island in the area of Normandy in France, at the mouth of the Coueson river. It features a medieval town and a Christian Abbey and a monastery. The main buildings tend to be Romanesque and Gothic, and the atmosphere is really cool – you might have noticed that I’m a bit of Gothic-style fan by now.

It was chilly and windy, and to be honest I found Mont-Saint-Michel to be slightly disappointing. The construction and exploitation of the tourism side, with building a parking lot and so on blew up the tidal system a couple of decades ago and the island is no longer such. They’re working now to try to restore everything back to how it was, but at the same time they are keeping a bridge, although that one should work for allowing the tides to move through. It was overcrowded, but we managed to have a good stroll.

After visiting Mont-Saint-Michel, we headed off to find our B&B at a small village about an hour away. I took a long, long, hot, hot shower and we ate some snacks for dinner.

30th March 2015 (Holy Monday): Getting around Toulouse {France, Easter 2015}

Posted on by

In the morning, my friend showed me around Toulouse for a bit. We saw the Capitolium, the business school, and some springtime trees, but mostly walked around. Toulouse is not a particularly pretty town, mostly industrial.

We had lunch at a rather nice Japanese restaurant, where I had my first sort-of real tonkatsu.

Then we returned to my friend’s place to get packed and headed to the airport as we had a 19:30 flight to Nantes, where we arrived around 21:00. My friend had rented a car for me to drive and I had the doubtful pleasure of getting to know the double roundabouts. We found an open McDonald’s by the road to have dinner and we drove to the hotel for the night. Also, for some strange reason we were given a family room (for like four people) and… our shower had lights. Seriously.

8th March 2015: Saint Seiya Legend of Sanctuary in Guadalajara (Spain)

Posted on by

When I was young I used to love the anime Saint Seiya. Then, as I grew older, I read the manga, then I sort of drifted away from it, until somehow new fandoms and old fandoms collided – and it as announced that YOSHIKI was writing the theme song for the film Saint Seiya Legend of Sanctuary. That grabbed my attention, and eventually Selecta Visión announced that they would release them in cinemas in Spain.

When it was announced that it would be showing in the shopping centre cinemas in Guadalajara for a couple of sessions only, I decided to buy my ticket online. It was strange for me for several reasons – the main of them was that I rarely go to the cinema to watch something dubbed. Also, the online shopping was weird -instead of getting a ticket, you got a number and then you had to input that number on a machine to get your actual traditional ticket printed.

I drove to the shopping centre, which was rather dead as it was a Sunday at half past six, the shops were closed and the restaurants not open yet. The audience of the cinema was comprised by a class of special needs kids and a lot – and I mean a lot of super-excited fathers with their young sons, who had no idea what the whole fuss was about. I enjoyed the film – I had resisted watching it bootleg although it had leaked on the Internet. It was a different, lighter take on the Battle of Sanctuary. I did, however, miss the Virgo Shaka vs Phoenix Ikki battle – because after all they’re my favourite characters. When the film ended, I stayed behind for the whole credits and YOSHIKI’s song “Hero”, beautifully sang by Katie Fitzgerald. I was literally the only person left in the cinema through it, and I had to apologise to the cleaning crew, who told me no problem. And hey, I got to see the mid-credit scene on my own!

Saint Seiya Legend of Sanctuary

After the film, I walked to the car and drove home to watch it again in its original version, because I am that kind of geek, and I was not too impressed with the dubs – but hey, that’s me, I’ve always preferred the originals.

1st February 2015: Space Pirate Captain Harlock. Madrid (Spain)

Posted on by

You can say that this was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment improvisation – I literally woke up and decided that I wanted to go and see the Space Pirate Captain Harlock. I found a cinema in Madrid that showed the film and I hopped on a train to get there. I arrived in time for an early lunch before I headed off for the film, as the only version in Japanese was at half past three.

This was one of the first times I ate and went to the cinema alone in Madrid, and it was a strange experience. My relatives always say that a person eating alone is sad, and as I’ve been hearing that for a long time, and sometimes it resonates, specially when I’m in Spain. I originally wanted to eat sushi, but in the end I decided against it and went to UDON instead, where I ended getting the membership card. I decided to try the Chicken Yaki Udon – much better than the ramen, in my opinion, as they were real udon noodles, unlike the ramen which uses tallarini – and a koroke (croquette), and I had cheesecake mochi for dessert.

After lunch I headed off to the Yelmo Cines Ideal to watch the film. I had no seat number and I did not need one as we were literally… five people in the cinema. It was a small cinema theatre, and when I arrived there were three or four people, I figured that more would come, but when the previews started we were just five, and five we stayed. When the film finally started, I was really impressed by the quality of the CGI – I already knew that the voice-over was going to be great, what with Oguri Shun and Miura Haruma.

The plot of the film reminded me a little of Space Battleship Yamato, but that might just be me being biased. Even if I vaguely remember watching the anime from the times I was a child, the film felt at the same time nostalgic and new, so I could really enjoy it. Although it is a bit on the predictable side, it wraps up really well.

After the film, I backtracked and it turns out I was home before anyone even noticed I was gone. I should get away more often (≧▽≦).

27th December 2014: A stroll in the cold (Guadalajara, Spain)

Posted on by

I had a couple of friends over for that silly blursday period between Christmas and New Year’s and we decided to get to Guadalajara for a walk or two. Not that there is much to see, but it has a small zoological park. The Zoológico Municipal de Guadalajara had a rocky start, with small cages and sad animals, but it seems to be trying to do better. The main activity that goes on in the zoo is the recovery of birds of prey, and there are some education programs too.

We had lunch in an all-you-can-eat Asian restaurant that I enjoy because it is one of the few places where I can get myself some sushi.

Afterwards, we visited the Palacio de la Cotilla, Cotilla Palace – whose name ‘palace’ is more than overrated. It is a 17th century is a downtown manor in Guadalajara, Spain, formerly owned by the Marquis of Villamejor. One of the rooms, named the “Chinese Room”, Salón Chino de la Cotilla, is decorated with hand-painted rice paper, brought from Beijing, and several Japanese Edo-period paintings which were probably purchased in France from Dutch sailors or merchants.

Finally we took a stroll towards a silly spot in the middle of nowhere that has a Japanes-like bridge over… nothing, really, but it is a cute bridge, in the Parque de las Esculturas, Sculpture Park.

After that we just headed back home because it was dark and cold and pizza could be ordered (≧▽≦).