Tokyo!!!!!!!!!!
I think that maybe Tokyo and I were seperated at birth. So many things to do, so little time. Spent Christmas day and Boxing day running around the city trying to take in as much as possible, but still felt like I had only scratched the surface.
Spent about four hours checking out some of the best record shops I have ever been to, in Shibuya. There are so many record shops in Japan, that they have published a book to list them all. Needless to say I have picked up a few gems that some of you will no doubt be hearing when I get back.
Checked out Harajuku on boxing day and managed to pick up some seriously good shopping bargains. Harajuku is a another super-cool district with plenty of young people floating around some great shops, cafes, etc.... Harajuku is also home to Yoyogi park (Those of you who know the book 'Fruits', may know what I'm talking about). Unfortunately, as it was only Friday, there weren't many people about....but if I have time on our way back to Shizouka, I might try and get there on a weekend.
Also checked out the Tokyo Millenario....this huge outdoor of arcade of lights. I'm not really sure, but I think it was a Christmas thing.
As you can see, I was pretty crap with taking photos in Tokyo, but will try and take some more when we pass through again.
Yoyogi Park
Tokyo Millenario
Mmmmmm......Sushi
Went out for the best sushi of my life tonight. It was all made before my eyes and as per order. Highlights were definitely the super fresh (almost still moving.....and I know this, because they were alive in a tank in front of me) tiger prawn sashimi, the tuna sashimi, and (besides the strange texture), some dark yellow shellfish, whose name escapes me.
Kyoto
Have just spent the last two days in Kyoto statying in a Ryokan, which is traditional Japanese style accomodation. Kyoto is a really beautiful place and is rich in Japanese history. We were really lucky as it doesn't usually snow that much in Kyoto and if it does it's normally in January. However we were covered in a nice, light, couple of inches throughout the Saturday, perfectly giving the temples etc.. that picture postcard look.
We visited about 7 temples, shrines and the former Palace of the Shogun of Japan. These places were so peaceful (aside from the hoards of tourists...), my favourite was definitely the Nijo Palace, which was occupied by the Shogun of Japan before the rule was handed back to the Empire. This place was incredible and has been preserved really well without seeming too rebuilt. It was an incredible feeling to walk through this building that has been there for several hundred years and was once home to the Shogun and his Samurai.
Definitely another hightlight was Kinkakuji or the Golden Temple, and we were really lucky that snowed lightly while we were there.
Ginkakuji (The Silver Temple)
Kinkakuji (The Golden Temple)
Kiyomizu Dera
Shimizu Ryokan
Kyoto Tower
Ryoanji Temple Zen Rock Garden
Sake!!!!!
I like rollercoasters.....
Today we jumped in the car and headed to a town close to Mt Fuji called Gotenba, where we went to an outlet store shopping mall. There were some pretty nice stores there, and I still have trouble considering them outlet stores.....some of the designer stores (Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Vivienne Westwood....) were better than most of Aucklands best stores.
Once we had finished window shopping, we met up with Tomoko and Kazu, some friends of Shinobu's. We had some lunch with them.... and I had 'sake to ikura no donburi', which is salmon and raw fish eggs (like big caviar) with rice. It was kinda fishy, but quite nice.
After lunch we decided to go to an amusment park called Fuji-Kyu Highlands, which is right at the base of Mt Fuji. This place was, until recently host to two world record roller coasters. Fujiyama was the worlds tallest with a vertical drop of 70m!! And dodonpa was the worlds fastest with a top speed of ....????.... Unfortunately, Fujiyama was closed for maintenance, but I did get to go on dodonpa.....it was rad.....especially the vertical drop.
The other main attraction here was the 'chou sen ritsu mekyu' or Ghost Hospital. This place was really cool....it was meant to be a hospital that was closed after it was found to be selling human organs. It was so well done and genuinely pretty scary, with actors dressed a zombie doctors that appear behind you from the shadows and follow you groaning and smashing & crashing things. It takes about 15-20 minutes to get through and halfway along they take the penlight torches off you. I definitely wouldn't want to walk this thing on my own...it kinda reminds me of a nightmarish playstation game.
Please don't fight the bears.
Tomoko & Kazu
Dodonpa
Went for a bit of a tour around Shizuoka today....
Wen't up to Shinobu's Uni, which is up on a hill looking down on all of the city. Checked out an ancient village that has been recreated from ruins, kinda reminded me of the Buried Village in Tarawera (except it's not buried).
Shinobu had to work for a couple of hours at night, so she dropped me off in the central city to have a bit of a wander....checked out some crazy seven story shopping malls which are about a million times better than anything we have in NZ, they're all kinda like Smith & Caughey's except bigger, and I wen't to five within a two block area. Can't wait to hit Tokyo, I imagine it's gonna be shopping heaven.
The christmas street lighting in the cities is pretty cool, everyone seems to take Christmas more seriously than I thought. One of the things I find funniest is the excess in which it's all done.....Like for instance there are plastic Santas hanging from every second street light, playing 'We wish you a Merry Christmas' and they are all out of time with each other creating a pretty manic christmas chaos soundtrack.
Kurisumasu Hanabi
Jumped on a train to a nearby town called Atami Beach, to go and check out their Christmas fireworks (hanabi) display...
Some of these were amazing, better than anything I've ever seen in NZ. They were really creative with how they let them off and it seemed really well choreographed. There were even ones that exploded into faces!!!
Atami beach is really cool, most of the township is built on the hill above the beach and there is heaps of hotels and high rise apartment blocks. Kinda reminds me of what I imagine somewhere like Monaco to be like. Definitely keen to go back during the day sometime.
Atami Township
Outisde Shizuoka Station
Fujisan (Mt Fuji) on a beautiful clear crisp Sunday morning.....
