Tag Archives: Trip: Japan summer 2016

31st July 2016: Last hour in Tokyo {Japan, summer 2016}

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The plane took off at around 1.00 am, and I said bye bye to Japan once again. I know it was not perfect and that I could have done many more things than I actually did. I could have travelled some more, visited more places? But I think it was good, and it was worth it. And I stayed within budget, which was a great surprise for me!

School was not that great, but I learnt more out of listening to the teachers speak Japanese and making friends, meeting them and so on, and travelling, than the actual grammar I was supposed to learn.

All in all, no regrets. Good feelings. Only a little sad as I close down the report for this trip. Bye for now, Japan. See you next time! Hello, European dairy, I’d missed you!(Behold latte and cheese sandwich during Frankfurt layover)

30th July 2016: 。・゜・(ノД`)・゜・。 Last day {Japan, summer 2016}

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I had set up my alarm at an insane time in the morning because I needed to take the trash out before 8am (between 7 and 8?! Seriously, Japan?). But in the end it was good – you see my contract said that I had to clean the apartment, wash and dry the sheets and vacuum the floors. Which was okay, until the fluffy cover sheet took an hour and a half to about 95% dry. Oh, and I packed. 23.1kg of suitcase (^◇^;).

Anyway, the previous day I had been unable to get the Gakucchi clearfile from the UFO catchers, but I still wanted to try again. As I had to be back at the apartment by 4pm to give the keys back and pass the inspection, I headed off to the nearest Taito station, the one in Ueno. Unfortunately, they did not even have the GACKT machines. So I decided to brace myself and go to Akihabara [秋葉原] to try to find an arcade. The first three – the Sega ones – were not successful at all. I was about to give up and go home very sad when I was finally victorious! I found the clearfiles in the Taito Station. The staff-San I approaches was not very helpful at first – probably my Japanese was not the most articulate at that point either – but when she realised what I was trying to tell her she got me the clearfiles (I had an order, aside from the one I wanted for myself) and placed the plush I wanted on the machine for me to try. Of course I was not successful but I have the clearfile and that makes me happy.

As I had a bit of time, I headed off to Yoyogi Kōen [代々木公園] and Meiji Jingu [明治神宮], as I wanted some omiyage. In the end, I offered an ema, and got some silly stuff. I also located the Like an Edison shop, but I stopped myself from going in because SUITCASE WEIGHT issues. I blame the Hyde is Dead photobook （；￣ェ￣）. I got back and bought some suahi from the street stand down my block, ate, sneaked out the rest of the trash, and sat down to wait for the inspection. At this point I was feeling kind of sad. Okay, without the ‘kind of’.

But the inspection / cleaner guy was adorable and he was pretty early so I could do stuff in the evening that would keep me going. I went to Tokyo station so they kept my luggage and then I headed to Tokyo Tower [東京タワー]. I got up to the main observatory, and had been considering walking up, but I did not trust myself without seeing the stairs first. So I climbed up on the lift and took pictures and enjoyed myself. I also wrote a postcard to myself to get the special post stamp… yes I’m lame like that, but I had a message for my future self （・◇・）/~~~

I walked down, because I figured out that I could so that more easily and I enjoyed it immensely. Then I stayed for a bit in the Zojo-ji [増上寺] matsuri in Shiba Koen [芝公園] , retrieved my luggage and headed towards the airport.

On my way I got to say goodbye to the Rainbow Bridge [レインボーブリッジ] on the way. It might be worth mentioning at this point that I could not complete the check in, and that I has only registered until Frankfurt… whoops.

Fortunately, after a bit of haggling with the lady organising the check-in queue I managed to get through to talk to an actual assistant who could get me my final boarding pass. I found myself some karaage dinner before moving on.

29th July 2016: Trying not to think {Japan, summer 2016}

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So I got home late the previous day and I did not really feel like studying, so this morning I had to do my homework and study for the exam (￣◇￣;). However, at around midmorning, I decided that I really did not care for a perfect grade anymore, that I was not going to get anyway because the teacher was not happy with my なければなりません and wanted なけれべいけません because that was what the book had. The other day when I was in Harajuku I’d seen something I really wanted, so I decided that screw everything, I would go buy it.

First, I stopped by Shibuya [渋谷], just because. I did a quick tour over Tsutaya, Book Off and Mandarake. In Tsutaya, I bugged a lady as I was looking for a specific manga and she did not look too happy to help (~_~;). Then I went to Harajuku [原宿] to buy the item I had fallen in love with, a 40cm high photobook (limited edition).

After class (and last exam, and saying bye bye and getting our pic taken with the certificate…) I met M. in Ikebukuro [池袋] as we were going to do fanstuff together. Well, let me rephrase that. First I went home because the photobook(s) was (were) heavy as hell and it would have been more expensive to find a coin locker for them than getting home and dropping them off. After that, I waited for her in the Book Off (and was self-restrained and did not buy anything else). We checked out the Ikebukuro Closet Child and then we had dinner together.

The plan was try and hunt the Gakkuchi. That is, some of the adorable plushes that GACKT makes. He had decided to put some as prices for the UFO catchers. I do know that getting them is next to impossible, but for 500Y try, you got a clearfile, and that was awesome…

So awesome that the clearfiles were “sold out” in all Ikebukuro. We tried one station over, a smaller one. No luck. We tried my station. Still no luck. Damn, what a way to finish the day (♯｀∧´).

28th July 2016: Ueno + VAMPS Replay {Japan, summer 2016}

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As the time to leave drew near, I felt a bit sad this morning (T^T). However, I did not let myself be dragged by it, so I forced myself out of the apartment to do things, and these things involved Ueno Kōen [野公園].

First I headed off to Ueno Tōshō-gū [上野東照宮], which I had not found open last year when I was there, because there was a matsuri, or something, I don’t really remember. Then I found out about the two dragons, the ascending dragon and the descending dragon, who come to drink at the pond at night. It is a very nice imaginary. Also, the shrine is really cool. It has a bit of a Chinese style, and is decorated with a gold layer. The inner fence shows animals of the sea and the wind, making it a unique shrine. I really liked it a lot.

The main building of a Shinto shrine, sparkling golden with a dark ceiling

Wooden painted carving of dragons, one going up, one going down

Then I found the Ueno Daibutsu [上野大仏], the Great Buddha Pagoda, which I had missed before – one of the things I love about Ueno is that whenever I go I find something new, yay. Most of the Ueno Daibutsu was melted for metal during WWII.

A giant Buddha face made of metal in a ceremonial pagoda

Gojoten Jinja [五條天神社] is really cool too, but I decided to leave getting its seal for another time. Next time.

A row of torii gates

I walked by Shinobazu no Ike [不忍池], the Pond in Ueno.

A pond covered in water lilly leaves, with some high rises in the background

Finally, I went to the museum of Shitamachi of Customs, Shitamachi Fūzoku Shiryōkan [下町風俗資料館], where they keep some old houses from the years after the great Kanto Earthquake. A bunch (hundreds) of houses were built there to make sure that the population was housed. The museum shows how life was those few first years, and how people lived and organised themselves. There are a few items, houses, photographies and so. The second floor is hands-on, with games and pastimes and so. There was a very nice guide there and she explained a lot of things to me.

Reproduction of pre-industrial wooden houses in Tokyo

Later I went to class (I found another Gyoza Franchise on my way back to the station) and then I skidded out because I had to get to Yoyogi National Stadium, Kokuritsu Yoyogi Kyogijo [国立 代々木 競技場], in Yoyogi [代々木]. I was attending the Sukkiri Superlive in order to see VAMPS one more time before heading off back home. All in all, a very complete day that ended up with a bang – when I should have been studying Japanese to be honest ^^;;

The Yoyogi national stadium, and a screen reading Sukkuri 10th Anniversary Super Live

27th July 2016: I could not miss an aquarium {Japan, summer 2016}

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I mean, visiting aquariums is like a second nature to me when I’m in Japan. It seems that each has something that I really love but had not realised it before.

In this case I headed off to Tokyo Sea Life Park – Kasairinkai Suizokukan [葛西臨海水族館] in the namesake park, Kasairinkai Koen [葛西臨海公園], in Edogawa [江戸川], especially famous for keeping a tank of yellowfin tuna (all of which died unexpectedly last year and had been replaced though) <・ )))><<.

The aquarium is mostly an underground complex, accessible through the main dome in the middle of the park. During my visit it was full of parents with young children. For some reason, Japanese people believe that children must love fish? I don’t really understand… ~(・・？））

Before class I went to Tokyo Daijingu [東京大神宮] in Iidabashi [飯田橋], which is surprisingly quite small, and I think it has something to do with finding love?

At night I met with my new friend M. to try to find a cat café we were interested in and somehow did not manage to find, but we turned that into dinner and karaoke – Joysound, to watch the VAMPS special message ｖ（＾＿＾ｖ）♪.

26th July 2016: Day and night {Japan, summer 2016}

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In the morning I went off to Shimokitazawa [下北沢], which is a “commercial and entertaining district in Setagaya [世田谷], Tokyo [東京]” (according to Wikipedia, at least).

My first stop was Kitazawa Hachiman Jinja [北澤八幡神社], about 10 minutes away from the station. It is one of those not so hidden shrines that give you the impression that time has frozen.

Afterwards, I undid my way for lunch in Gyoza no Oshou, which I heard that was GACKT’s favourite gyoza place (ironically, this seems to be a franchise, I also found one in Ueno, later on). After that I slithered over to Harajuku [原宿] to find the Closet Child there (and buy things and get a discount card!) Because the fact that there were no more planned shopping sprees does not really mean… anything（≧∇≦）.

In the evening (after class and homework), even if it was raining, I waltzed off to take pictures of the city at night. While Shibuya is bustling with neon, Shinjuku was a bit heart-wrenching as the homeless tend to gather around the station for cover, some of them read your palm for cash.

Shibuya [渋谷]:

Shinjuku [新宿]:

Cityscape from the Observatory of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Tōkyō Tochō [東京都庁] (not alone in the lift this time…):

At night there was an earthquake. Not a big one, probably (3, maybe?), but it made my whole apartment creak with the strain. It was creepy enough to straighten me out of bed (◎_◎;)

25th July 2016: Back to Tokyo {Japan, summer 2016}

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Nothing special really happened this day. I had a 10 am train to get back to Tokyo, and was too dead to do any tourisim beforehand. On the Shinkansen, an obaachan got her seat wrong and sat on my seat. Figuring she had the aisle seat and that she had a lot of luggage with her, I sat down next to her and did my homework for the weekend – not the cleanest, prettiest homework I’ve done.

It turned out that the little old lady had gotten her row wrong. She was sitting on my seat, and I was sitting on some other lady’s seat and the poor lady had not known what to do with herself. The conductor arranged it by sitting the second lady on the obaachan’s place. The obaachan was very apologetic and gave me some cookies in apology. At least it was not clear enough that I would have seen Fuji-san from my seat…

Have I ever mentioned how much I love the little detail that the conductors bow at the passengers when they exit the carrieage? Just a little thing, I guess…

I got to Tokyo station, from there I went to class, and from class I went home because I did not even feel human. (( _ _ ))..zzzZZ

24th July 2016: I can Osaka (ish), Haido can’t Japanese {Japan, summer 2016}

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Before going to the concert I headed over to Shitennoji to pay a visit to the complex. Before that I had a great view of the Tsutenkaku Tower [通天閣].

A wide shot of Osaka, showing the Tsutenkaku TV tower on the right

Shitennoji [四天王寺] was as cool as I remembered it, but I did not find the place to get my seals, which I guess just means that I’ll have to come back. Damn it (^_~)

Collage. A torii gate. A temple building with a pagoda. A temple with a pond in front of it. An hexagonal pagoda

I headed off towards Namba Hatch again, as there was a second VAMPS concert happening, and I tried to find a coinlocker in the Namba station area, basically at the end of the world, and on my way back I got the wrong turn. That is why you get to see a whale sculpture.

Sculpture of a grey whale breaching the floor

I found myself a friendly katsu place and this time I really enjoyed my meal – I would have gotten takoyaki but I did not think it would have lasted enough.

Lunch. A tray of different deep-fried goodies

The concert had a similar set list to the one the day before, but it was different enough to make the experience different. Also, it was weird to have seats and not be in the arena – I had a seated ticket for the second floor –, though I can’t say it was a bad experience – I might have to consider it from now on. One of the funniest points of the concert though was that Hyde was having a bad Japanese day, and he kept tripping over his own words for some reason. After the concert was over I headed back to the hotel and there was gyoza from 7/11 for dinner because I was ravenous. And I slept like the dead.

Picture of the venue and the projected countdown on the stage curtains

23rd July 2016: My two fandoms {Japan, summer 2016}

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While most people would not consider that a fandom, the truth is that my yokai research and related stuff is insanely fun, so I guess it is fair to call it that. Thus I headed out to visit Abeno Jinja [阿部野神社], which stands at the birthplace of Abe no Seimei. Luckily in the same metro line I had to take to go to the VAMPS‘ concert at Namba Hatch.

Torii with bright blue banners hanging from it, and main building of a Shinto shrine, in dark red and grey colours

I don’t remember if I mentioned this before, but Japan had unified IC cards, so now you can use any card in most major cities, which is bloody awesome. On my way back, I checked the Zepp Osaka, basically because I had a mental slip and was confused about the place for a second, and when I saw ‘Zepp this way’ I just felt like following directions.

Between goods and concert start, however, there was katsu, which was really yummy even if the waiter was rather unwelcoming. If not for the fact that she would have been happy I would have left the restaurant. Sometimes I just feel sad that Japan does not do tips, I would have made the leaving one-penny statement.

When it was finally time for the concert, all the woes went away though, and I had a lot of fun.

Tickets and Vamps tour truck with publicity for the tour and the Beast party

22nd July 2016: I did not play hookie {Japan, summer 2016}

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So I stayed studying all morning. And maybe – just maybe – lazying around for a little bit. Then I headed off to class and after class I went to Tokyo station because I was going to hit the road (traintracks?) again to go to Osaka. I had a good nap on the Shinkansen and made it to the subway without complications. It still amuses me how different the train attitude is in Tokyo and Osaka, it is like night and day sometimes. So there I was again, ready for a weekend of fun – hopefully.

I am not completely sure of why but I really love Osaka [大阪]. Sometimes I think that a bit too much. I did try to keep it sane this time around and even if I had physical time to do things, I tried to take it easy.

21st July 2016: Shopping spree (II) {Japan, summer 2016}

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This was the last planned big shopping spree and honestly I felt quite pleased after that. I started off in Nakano Broadway [中野ブロードウェイ] and then made my way to Shinjuku. Nakano aka Mandarake Land has reorganised itself to have topic-oriented shops. I had not been able to find the one that interested me – male singers – just yet. Actually I had found it but they had been moving things around and nothing was to be found there. Fortunately this one time I found interesting stuff at very good prices ＼(^o^)／ (I saw the same item I got for twice the price later in TRIO). After the Mandarake I moved onto the JRock TRIO and fell in love with a Gackt’s Ghost pendant so I got myself that, along with a VAMPS postcard and a Galileo special from Fukuyama Masaharu’s fanclub Magazine (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))

Happy with my items, I headed off to Shinjuku [新宿] to find the Closet Child CD shop. The previous day I had been in the punk goth one and gotten myself a ring, but this time I wanted the CD one. And when I found it, it was so worth it ♥

After class, I headed off to have dinner with a friend, totally ignoring that I had an exam the next day. Oh and when I got home I did laundry. Cause I’m cool like that ψ(｀∇´)ψ

20th July 2016: Hababi in Kamakura! {Japan, summer 2016}

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Hanabi [花火] are fireworks, in case I had never explained that, which I might just as well not have done. I was just beat in the morning and I had not studied, so I got a late start, which did not work out too well as I did not find what I was looking for. Twice. Then I headed off to class and barely had time to buy food in the Conbini, which was running a sale in onigiri. Unfortunately, that meant that the only thing left were the not-so-yummy spicy tuna. And then the trains were delayed.

Yes, I was already in class, but I had plans for the evening. I was meeting a new Japanese friend M-san in Kamakura [鎌倉] to watch the fireworks! Fortunately the delay was over by the time I got out of class. I managed to make it to one train earlier at some point so I had the spare time for a toilet break, which was well needed. My three transfers were smooth albeit packed, and I even sat down at some point!

When I arrived in Kamakura I was surprised by the sheer amount of people I saw there. After M-san arrived we headed off for the beach to watch the fireworks which were amaaaazing. They made faces with the fireworks!! Cats and frogs! I could not believe it!

19th July 2016: Oopsies {Japan, summer 2016}

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After doing some studying in the morning, I was to meet B**** for dinner. I went to Iidabahi [飯田橋] early and bought some meat buns (nikuman) for lunch – the most delicious nikkuman I’ve ever eaten are sold in a small Chinese shop there.

Unfortunately B**** and my carefully-laid out plans were forced to change because she had a gas inspection in her new apartment also known as the apatosaurus. However, we were able to go for some okonomiyaki and monjayaki .

After lunch, we headed off to karaoke. All in all it was fun and plans were remade.

18th July 2016: Shopping spree (I) {Japan, summer 2016}

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I started the week off with a mochi breakfast that I had received as omiyage (typical present / detail from a particular area). It was delicious!

Japanese sweet pastry on a toothpick

This day I took my first real shopping spree and I headed off for Shinjuku [新宿] and Closet Child & Pure Sound. I ended up in the Pure Sound buying quite a few things, including but not limited to VAMPS DVDs. I had made a friend at Gackt’s Birthday party and she needed to be shown to the shops, so it was the perfect school.

The entrance to Kabukicho district

We also went to Ikebukuro [池袋] for some more shopping and we had lunch at CocoCurry, where I tried the kanikoroke as I was feeling adventurous. As much as I love the chicken, this was an amazing choice!

A curry dish. The sauce is spread at the bottom, and two croquettes stand on the rice

To be honest, I was sore from my fall the previous day and I was staring to feel the tiredness of “doing all the things”, so I took it slow and I just went home after school.

17th July 2016: Chiba & friends {Japan, summer 2016}

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In the morning I was considering Nikko but in retrospect I think that it was good that I did not do such a thing, considering.

I headed out to Chiba to check out the castle and a local shrine, unoriginally named Chiba-jo [千葉城], and Chiba Jinja（≧∇≦）.

I had no trouble finding the castle once I made to an elevated road crossing, and I was soon there. To my surprise the castle visit was free, as it is also the Chiba City Folk Museum – Chiba-shi Tachi kyōdo hakubutsukan [千葉市立郷土博物館]. Inside there is a samurai and history museum, guarded by local guards and tour guides, very interested in not talking to the weird gaijin, yours truly. The first floor exhibits some pottery and archaeological artefacts, the second and third samurai and history items such as armours and weapons, and the fourth floor focuses on recent history around the world wars. The fifth is the observatory.

After the castle I walked to Myokenhongu Chiba Jinja [妙見本宮 千葉神社] which does not have a set of komainu (guardian lion-dogs). It has a whole family set and it is adorable! I was absolutely in love with the whole thing. Unfortunately I don’t think they would have let me take them.

After this I headed off to have a late lunch with a friend, because sometimes being a friend is being on trains for 2 hours for a weird late lunch, and then another hour and a half back because you’re meeting other people. In the meantime too I had time to shower and to slip onto the floor and not break anything. Go me!

Then I met some friends in Shibuya [渋谷] for dinner. Well, they had dinner, I had ice cream, cause I could d(^_^o)

16th July 2016: Nagoya express (II) {Japan, summer 2016}

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The day started with free breakfast that my hotel was providing, then I checked and set off to find a Shrine in the opposite block. It must have been the invisible shrine, because I did not manage to find it at all.

Then I set off to unwalk the path I followed the previous night to retrace the shrines, successfully. Everyone was getting ready for the festival so Nagoya Jinja [那古野神社] was very busy, and it was barely 8:15 in the morning (yes, I am a Japan early riser, who would have thought? XD)

And the same happened with Gokoku Jinja [佐屋護国神社].

I got to the Nagoya-jo [名古屋城] just before the hordes of tourists and had a quiet while to stroll around and take pictures. And when I say while, I mean couple of hours, because that is how I tick XD

Nagoya’s unofficial mascot is the kinsachi [金鯱] golden tiger-headed-dolphins, castle guardians to prevent the castles from burning (and that slack a little, as most castles have burnt down some time or another throughout history).

When I was coming out I stayed for a while watching the performance and rooting for some people just because they were pretty, even if I had arrived when it has all started and I did not know which clan was “the good guys” and which “the bad guys”. So yeah…

After the castle I checked on the temples again on my way to the metro. I had wanted to check the Gojobashi bridge out but it started raining pretty hard. Buying the Nagoya Eco pass proved impossible so I ended up just going in with the Suica, which worked without a problem. My next stop was Atsuta Jingū [熱田神宮], which enshrines the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. It is a bit out of the way so I decided to wait the rain out during the ride, and the plan worked. When I arrived at the shrine, the sky had cleared. A very nice ojiisan offered to show me around in broken English and I decided to encourage the system – Japan seems to be putting in place a system of helpful people to guide you in special tourist points, in different languages. I’ll support that.

Thus I went with the ojiisan who showed me around English. Even when I tried to switch to Japanese he would not really let me. He was quite impressed for for some reason that I knew names like Tokugawa or Nobunaga. After we were done with the tour I strolled around on my own again to take some pictures and enjoy the shrine. (I’m not a fan of this whole fad of Japanese older men acting as guides…)

Then I headed back to the metro system to get back to the central area and visited the Higashi Betsuin Kaikan [東別院会館], next to Nagoya TV and a Book Off.

I also made a pause for a snack, and then headed off to the Osu Kannon [大須観音].

Walking towards it I came across the hip shopping district, and a small Shinto shrine that I think was the Kitano Jinja [北野神社], but I cannot tell for sure. Bummer, I should have gotten myself the Japanese map along with the English one to match names.

After that I was a bit on the tired side so I headed back to Nagoya station. I had some time before my train so I tried the typical local chicken wings, tebasaki [手羽先].

Then I spent my Shinkansen ride listening to music and playing with my phone and was very lucky to go into a TOKIO-commercial full Yamanote train from Tokyo station to Konagome.

And then I crashed into bed. Because I was tired.

15th July 2016: Nagoya express (I) {Japan, summer 2016}

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I spent the best part of the morning studying. I later has a quick lunch with T. who was going back to Spain soon, and departing for Osaka. I strolled down the rain to the Benten temple in Ueno and then headed off to class.

In the evening, I rushed to Tokyo station to catch the Hikari Shinkansen to Nagoya, a city I had never visited before. As there was a huge festival the prices for sleeping over Saturday to Sunday were crazy but what I organised worked well. When I arrived I walked by some pretty fun buildings, namely the Oasis 21.

Then I visited Nagoya TV Tower or Nagoya Terebi To [名古屋テレビ塔], which claims to be the first tourist tower in Japan. The Tower was running some special on fish as far as I understood and you could watch the scenery and little koi carps. The tower has been designed ‘Lovers Paradise’ so there were lots of young couples. The Tower yielded to some cool sights of the city skyline, including Nagoya Castle, Nagoya-jo [名古屋城] and Hisaya Odori Koen [久屋大通公園], where the Tower and Oasis 21 stand.

After the tower I took the train to check in my hotel and then took a stroll down the area. I wanted to get to the castle, hoping that I’d be able to see it up close at night, but no such luck and I found myself staring at a blank wall. But on my way back I found my way to Aichi Shrine and Nagoya & Toshugu Shrine (back to back) before going back to the hotel, taking a shower and zonking out (( _ _ ))..zzzZZ. But not before tracing a careful plan (￣Д￣)ﾉ Even if we know plans rarely come together…

14th July 2016: Liar, liar, pants on fire (and Komagome II) {Japan, summer 2016}

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The weather report had been announcing clouds all day. It lied. A lot. Seriously, both the JMA and whatever data an iPhone uses, they were way out of the way. See, I used these reports to plan an outdoors day visiting some parks, temples and shrines close to my area. This meant walking for a couple of hours, but there I went.

The first problem was that the weather decided that clouds were overrated. I did not think much of it at first, but it would be relevant later. The second was that GoogleMaps decided to join forces with the weather report and troll me.

But let’s start form the beginning, and the beginning was the Kyu Furukawa Teien [旧古河庭園], a garden apparently famous for their rose festivals. No roses in July, but a very neat Japanese garden. I’ve never been much of an English Garden fan unless there are flowers, so I did not pay much attention to that part.

After the gardens I headed off towards the Oji [王子] area, checking out Hiratsuka Jinja, Takinogawa Park and Nanasha Shrine until I made it to the park called Asukayama Koen [飛鳥山公園], where for the first time this year I heard the cicadas singing like crazy. It’s officially summer in Japan, bugs dixit! It’s not a matter of the heat, the rain, or anything like that. In the end, the cicadas mark the time.

The park holds a few museums and In one of the corners Oji Jinja [王子神社] can be found. If Google agrees that it even exists. But alas, success in the end.

After an odyssey to find the Shrine and once again fight Google regarding yes, the Oji Inari Jinja [王子稲荷神社] exists, I managed to find the latter. Close to one of the crossroads I had been to before. Twice. Thanks, Google （－＿－；）

Then I decided to head off to where my academy is, Iidabashi [飯田橋]. My destination there was Zenkoku-ji [善國寺], which was surrounded for some reason by no less than four Spanish restaurants. I am not brave enough to try those but there was a nikuman shop that did catch my attention. I also made a short stop at the local Book Off in order to check it out and get OFF THE SUN for a few minutes. At this point I had just realise that I had been indeed walking around in the sun for three and a half hours and I was… Burnt. Quite so. Damn it.

But it did not end there. Nooo, why would it end there? Then it RAINED 雨雨雨. When I had to do my laundry and get it dry, of course, because the next day I was over to Nagoya and wanted to make sure I had clothes to wear. And I studied because I had an exam the next day, and the previous one had been disastrous.

13th July 2016: Here we go again! {Japan, summer 2016}

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I am a creature of habits and I won’t deny that. I will however wonder how come my phone thinks about autocorrecting ‘gabits’ to Gackt, which is interesting to say the least. Anyway. On July 12th I realised that my 朱印帳 (しゅいんちょう) or seal book was lacking one of my favourite Temples in the World! So off I went to Zojo-ji [増上寺] with my newly-activated JRPass. I gotta make the most out of it because it was expensive, mkay? (￣^￣)ゞ

Anyway, off I went to Hamamatsucho and I had a very beautiful flashback to the first time I saw Tokyo Tower [東京タワー], coming from that station. A lot of things have changed since then. I wandered around Zojo-ji temple, Shiba Koen [芝公園] and the base of Tokyo Tower for a while.

Later, I headed off to Ueno because the previous day I had not eaten Ichiran Ramen and I wanted Ichiran Ramen. I went with time to be able to wait out the queue. Once again I freaked some poor kid out. This was staring to get tiresome.

Ichiran is a restaurant designed for people who eat alone, and you have a little ‘booth’ to do your thing. Some people find it outrageous/controversial but as a lone traveler I love it. And if you are not alone you just take down one of the booth walls and you’re free to talk to whomever you came with. And the ramen is quite nice. And hot. But the restaurant is cold even with the hot ramen and always being packed so I guess it is fair enough.

After lunch I went back to Ueno station to make my reservations for the trip I was planning along the weekend and I decided to go to Ikebukuro again to get a CD I had not bought the day before as I was not sure it was the one I wanted – and the Internet was not cooperating. Once again I had to brave Ikebukuro station and this time I kind of gotten things sorted out! Let’s see how long I manage to remember what to do. Then I headed off to class.

After class I walked over with T. to Yasukuni Jinja [靖國神社] to check the about-to-open Mitama Matsuri (festival), but we did not stay longer than the necessary to get some yakitori and be on our merry way.

12th July 2016: 海のハーンター！ (Hunters of the Sea) {Japan, summer 2016} {Japan, summer 2016}

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First thing in the morning… I slept in because I was beat, but second, I went to pick up my JRPass, really hoping to compensate it since this time it is for 14 days. The JR Pass allows for unlimited travel in most JRLines. I wanted to get it and activate it, but I realised that I felt better activating it the following day to have some more margin after my long trip (more on that another day).

The JRPass lady complimented my Japanese and asked me where I studied Japanese. I think this was the first time someone made small talk with me aside from friends （＾ν＾）. It felt good to be able to do that, especially as I was not feeling too encouraged at school.

Anyway. I was in Ueno [上野] and the Kokuritsu Kagaku Hakubutsukan [国立科学博物館], Tokyo’s National Museum of Nature and Science, was running the temporal exhibition called ‘Umi no Hunters’ [海のハーンター] (Hunters of the Sea) Would you have doubted me heading there head first? No? Thought so （＾＿＾）☆

So there I went <・ )))><<, and I had a lot of fun. The first part was a small introductory video and a very cool evolution chart of different predatory species in the ocean. The second focuses on ‘predators of the past’, making mentions of the Dunkleosteous (and I was so happy that they had put the huge Dunkan head they’ve got before a light background for good pictures. Then they had a few fossils, including a very curious double-predation one (both fish killed each other in the process and were fossilised that way). I could already peer above me one of the most exciting things of the exhibition, the model of the Megalodon. And boy, it was great. The only problem was that it was hanging from the ceiling with very bad angle to be caught in pictures. I tried. Repeatedly.

Then they had the whole set of teeth, which of course would not belong to the same shark, but one can dream (^◇^;) And yeah, there were other birds and stuff, but Megalodon! And teeth!

Then the exhibition moved onto present day animals. I get the feeling that they just brought together every taxidermy they had lying around that could be related to the sea. Some were much better done than others, truth be told. They divided the stands in the different areas – deep sea, open sea, shallow area.

One of the things that surprised me the most was the size of the sea elephant. I have to own up that for a few second I did not know if it was real or just something that someone had put there to troll visitors and I had this urge to pat it to check whether that was real hair, but of course I could not do that. The young women minding the exhibition would have gotten a heart attack or twenty. So I was nice and respectful – and really if I have to get deported from Japan, I think it would not be for patting a giant seal. Nor for stealing one of the Megalodon teeth they had at the exhibition and that I really, really wanted.

The coolest thing, of course, because I am not going to hide that I am horribly biased were the sharks. I was so taken with them that at first I did not realise what was closing the the tour.

I was going to need a bigger camera.

They had a preserved Great White Shark (ホホシロサメ）which you could not see in its great splendour because someone had not thought too well about the tank and the preserving liquid but… Did I mention Great White Shark?? Apparently it was washed ashore dead in 2014 and had taken this long to get it preserved. There was a video explaining about the process (as a matter of fact, there were several videos throughout the exhibition, sorry I got shark-ried away.

After this the plan was to get ramen in Ueno station, but there was a huge line and I did not think I had the time to brave it. However I still had time so I decided to wander around and head off to Ikebukuro [池袋] where, guess what? Got the wrong exit. As always. But made it back to school with plenty of time.