I have internet and time!

Last thing I posted was Ueno? Wow. Life has been hectic. After Ueno was a stretch of a few days where I'm not entirely certain of the order of events anymore. On Sunday, I went with a friend I met online to Harajuku and Yoyogi Park. Too bad it was raining. Didn't see many of the fashion shows that the kids put on there. We did see other pieces though. All the shops where the Lolitas and such go to shop. It was fairly interesting. Got some sushi and a rotating bar. Friend left in the afternoon. I continued on to The National Museum in Ueno. It is a great museum. Probably the best I've ever been to.

That night I spent watching a World Cup game. Can't remember which one! We've watched quite a few of the games. The guys I was out with the day before took a trip to Mt. Fuji, so I saw them tomorrow. They slept in a bit of course. And they had to switch hostels. I took a short trip to Kamakura in the meantime. Wasn't really impressed. There were some temples. There was a Buddha. Nothing extraordinary in my opinion. Back with the guys...We walked around, got some good food, and I tried getting some tylenol at a drug store. I didn't know the word for painkillers at the time. The older woman who owned the shop ended up calling her daughter, who knew some English. When evening came we went to Tokyo Bay; for a dinner cruise! That was a lot of fun. Good crowd. Handy having a French guy who works in the auto industry in Japan. He spoke English and Japanese. Dinner was lots of food I can't name, plus some sushi. I liked most things. Raw squid though... ugh. No. Dinner included all we could drink though. It was pretty, we were tipsy, and the crowd was a little rowdy. It was excellent.

Some Japanese folks posed for me. They wanted a picture like this with their camera, so I stole one with my own. It was the girl's birthday, and the guy was taking her out. She dressed up in her yukata, and the guy did a rather silly dance for her (in front of everyone) in little more than his underwear.








That was a good day. Then we all agreed to meet up on the next day. Which proved to be amazing again! I met Kate, an Aussie girl, in the hostel that morning while waiting for the guys I was with. She had just gotten to Japan. +1 for the group! Headed to meet all of them at their hostel after having some brunch. Spent the afternoon wandering around for a little while and then trying to go to an amusement park. It was raining. This plan failed.

Looked like a fun park too. Ah well. This opened up the night to picking up some alcohol on the streets of Japan to prep for the rest of the night.

Part of that involved some pachinko. I won $90 and some candy! Kate and I got separated from the rest of the guys so we went out to eat at a place that puts a grill on your table where you grill your own meat. I think they told me I got moose or something. Tasted good, but I couldn't chew it. Impossible to swallow!

Everyone met up again back at the guy's hostel, where we met some random Aussie guys and Norwegian girls. All of us decided to go out for a night on the town. We headed to Shibuya where we started at Gas Panic. Pretty normal to do that because Gas Panic has no cover charge. Got bored soon though. So we went to a small Japanese bar (on the right) on our way to find a club. This place was great! Nice bartenders and a small group of friendly and drunk Japanese about our age. One of them suggested a club called Atom. We all love him for this suggestion. Dancing and partying there with hundreds of Japanese until 6am!

The following few days blurred together a little bit. Not because of hangovers! I just can't remember the order. Kate and I went to Shinjuku and saw the view from the government building. We saw the Imperial Palace. Went to Akihabara and Asakusa. A bunch of places in between too. Lots of touristy things. It was fun. At some point in here, maybe after all this, we went to the bar that belongs to the hostel we stayed at. There was supposed to be karaoke. They failed miserably at that. So we met some Swedes and headed for Roppongi.

Roppongi was dead. Snore. Shibuya was so much better. Decided that instead of going to bars, we'd drink out on the street after buying drinks at a convenience store! Some more Aussies joined us! Spent the night on random street corners and parks. Public drinking isn't illegal in Japan. Crazy. Kate and I were the only sober ones in the end.




There was one more night after the Roppongi thing before I left Tokyo. I think it was the day I went to the Imperial Palace and Akihabara with Kate. Pff. Doesn't really matter. They were all good times. And I was on my way to Sapporo for some very surprising adventures after that!

Ueno Park

As I said before, I got together with some guys to go biking through the city. We headed up through Akihabara and on to Ueno. There is a nice park in Ueno, and a few museums. It is home to the Japanese National Museum. Biggest, and arguably best in Tokyo. But we only really rode around for a while in the park. One bikes with no gear shifts. That was a struggle with the hills around. Oh, right, there are shrines too. Shrines are everywhere though.

Here are some pics of the guys I was with. This first one is Carl, from Australia in the front. The guy in the back is Grant, from Arizona.

This pic is from the next day. But, heh, it is a fun one. Left to right: Eddie, Grant, Colin. All of them are college mates from Arizona. Colin didn't bike with us as he was busy with an interview for some IT company here.

Ueno park's most prominent feature is a large lake that they've split in two. One side is clear with boats, and looks like a standard lake. Nothing special. The other side looks like this. I didn't see any part of this side that wasn't covered with plants. Animals love it though. Koi, turtles, and lots of birds abound in Ueno park.

There are also a lot of street performers. This guy likes juggling knives while precariously balanced on a plank of wood, which is balanced on a couple of light wood blocks, which are balanced on a couple more wood blocks, on another wood plank, all on top of a very rolly metal tube... The crowds loved it.

I liked these guys better. Carl and I saw them after we split with the other guys. They had to go meet up with Colin, who had finished his interview. The music this little troupe played was fun. Great accordion. Decent saxophone (I might be biased). The third guy did various juggling acts with the music.

Carl and I returned to Asakusabashi about an hour before we needed to turn in our bikes. We had some time to blow so we went for a drink! This little bar turned out to be a real treat. It has an English name, but it isn't an English bar at all. One of the cooks spoke English though. He was great to chat with. As was the one waitress, who knew a little English. I had my fun little phrasebook called 'Making out in Japanese' to laugh about with them. The book isn't what it's title makes it out to be. It gives common street talk rather than really formal speech most other phrasebooks will give. But it also goes through things like how to talk smack and how to tell a girl to kiss you. Never know when you'll need those, right?

Here is a fun little pick right under the train tracks. Most rails in the city are either raised or underground. There are homes and shops built into the rail supports. This is just under one of the archways for the roads. Where you obviously aren't supposed to park any bikes. Obviously...

Hello again. It has been a while since I have had the time to post. Lots of learning since last time. Quite the fun times at the moment. I'm listening to Blue Monday and watching RoboCop with Japanese subtitles. There is a channel here completely dedicated to older US movies. It is like watching Turner Classic Movies, but with Japanese subtitles. Ends up being more interesting than most of the other things on. I can actually understand these movies. We do occasionally watch things in Japanese. Like Pokemon. Sadly. I am hoping that some of the friends I have made here get back to me shortly. I'd like to go out tonight, even though I'm pretty tired. Or maybe I'll ask some of the other folks here what is going on. Heh, or go alone and meet people at the bar. I've got options anyway. The whole 'not being alone' thing hasn't changed. Backpacking solo is turning out to be a very safe option!

So... some updates on what is going on and even some pictures! The hostel I'm staying at is called Khaosan Tokyo Ninja. It is a very nice place. All of the Khaosan hostels in Tokyo are decent I've heard. There is a large common area and nice staff. Having a large common area gives the chance to meet people. It is also in a nice area. The closest station is called Bakuro-cho, but it is a tiny one. The closest large station, and the one always referred to for the area is Asakusabashi.

Here is what the back alleys and streets look like in the area. Shops are everywhere. Can't tell you what everything is since I can't read the kanji. There are lots of little Izukaya though. Izukaya are cafe/noodle shops that usually have alcohol. Good for lunch, dinner, and later!The hostel is located right next to a river. I don't know what the name of the river is. Maybe I'll ask sometime. The Asakusabashi station is across the river and a couple of blocks down.

This is a view across the bridge and toward Asakusabashi station. The entire city is built up like what is seen here. Almost cookie cutter buildings. The only place that I've seen different is in Shinjuku where there are even larger buildings. Actual houses are all but nonexistant here. I haven't seen any.

Alone?

I came to Japan alone, but it is hard to think of myself as being alone now. There are so many people at this hostel! The very nice lounge helps us all get together. Tonight, everybody was crowded around the big TV watching the World Cup. Go USA! And England I suppose. There were a couple of Aussies. They wanted USA to make it. The Brits that were there didn't follow football. And there were some French, Japanese, Finnish, Dutch... I don't know what all. When USA scored, the room erupted in screams of joy!

Tomorrow morning I'm renting a bike with a group of other countrymen to ride around Tokyo. We'll likely do it a couple of days. Sometime we are going to go to karaoke and clubs. Also met an Aussie who is here backpacking alone like me. He is around until the 17th, so he'll be around during that time I was wondering about. Got his facebook. I'll keep in touch with him and see what's what.

Quite tired now. I'm sitting in my dorm cube/bunk. It is small, but I fit well enough to sleep. That is all that matters. Pictures will start coming tomorrow. Was too tired and crazy today. Need to be up in 6 hours to go biking.

sayonara

Nihongo everywhere

I made it. Sitting in my hostel near Ueno, Tokyo. There are a bunch of people sitting in the lobby here. I will be chatting them all up in a bit here to try finding folks to run around with in the coming days. If not, I still have so much I can do! The problem is going to be trying to find and read all the English signs around. Travel is easy at least. Got myself a cell phone for the trip. And insurance. Called Rob to check in. It is so time for this.

We're all waiting for the World Cup games to start. Both the England and USA game. I've got my USA shirt on, and am ready to go! But people are also talking about going to do karaoke. I will go with them if they do, but they could have picked a better night! We'll see how things go.

Itinerary

Only a couple of days left to plan this trip out and there is still about a week that I'm unsure about! That week was going to be my trip to the Kansai region. Rob and I made plans though, and that trip got shifted back until after Rob and I separate. I've got all sorts of ideas. Need to see what is doable and what I want to see the most. My current itinerary follows. This doesn't include what I'm doing at those places, but I assure you that most of that is planned out as well. Sort of. I've got lists of what I want to do and how to get there, what to pay, etc. The exact dates of when I do something aren't set in stone. Better that way I think.


June 22nd to July 1st - Tokyo and surrounding region. There is SO much to see around here. Lots of day trips out. Meeting a friend for a trip around Shinjuku on the 27th.

July 1st - July 8th - This is when I'm not certain about. I'd like to see Sapporo and Hiroshima. Maybe Sendai. These are all far apart. I've got about a day to decide!

July 8th - July 23rd - Meet with Rob in Kanazawa. Visit Kobe and Osaka. Take a trip to Okinawa.

July 23rd - July 29th - Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya, and a bunch more in the Kansai region. There is a festival in Kyoto called the Gion Matsuri that I'll be seeing. Staying in Gion, which is in downtown Kyoto. It is the geisha district.

July 29th - July 31st - Seeing Mt. Fuji. I plan to climb it on the 30th!

July 31st - August 3rd - Return to Tokyo. See what I haven't seen or just socialize until my flight home on the 3rd.