Trip To Asakusa and Ryogoku

Early Saturday morning, September 27, we headed out to Asakusa to see Tokyo's busiest shrines.  At the subway station, where we got off, we ran into a sumo wrestler that we asked for permission to pose with.

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  We stopped by the Bandai building where posed with a few anime characters.  

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We reached Senso-ji, home of Tokyo's oldest temple (wiki link).  To get there we had to walk through a long row of shops where we bought souvenirs and exoticc foods as we went.   This is Nakamise-Dori.

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The Senso-ji is another big buddhist temple with a humongous lantern.

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  Going up to the shrine, I decided to try my fate in fortune sticks.  I shook a metal box and out came a stick.  I matched the etchings to the appropriate drawer and took a piece of paper from it.  According to my fortune, "Best Fortune" which is the 2nd best to get.

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  The ideal one is "Good Luck" because it means its just getting better.  Unfortunately for me, It will be all downhill afterwards.  Off to the side of the temple was a taiko drum performance.  It was pretty cool.

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Afterwards, we headed down to the Sumida River and took a boat ride to Ryogoku where there is a Sumo Wrestling Arena.  We ran into a few Sumo Wrestlers.  They were quite big but seem to be very humble people.  

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There were so many people there but we didn't attempt to buy tickets on that day.  

The Great Buddha

Early Friday, September 26, I headed off to Kamakura to see the "Daibatsu" or "Great Buddha".  It was no disappointment, this buddha was the biggest I've ever seen.  It was marvelous.  It's about 30 feet tall.  And you can enter inside it for 20 yen.  Its made of bronze (wiki link).

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Then I walked to one of Kamakura's beaches,  Yuigahama Beach.  Its no resort beach.  The sand is dark and quite a few debris and sea weeds.  But the waves are intimidating.  They seemed very violent and windy.  Surfers seem to enjoy it.  I rolled up my jeans and enjoyed soaking my feet for a few minutes.

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Next, I headed up to Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu (wiki link).  Its a beautiful temple.  It was built high above Kamakura with a long flight of stairs to climb.  Over there, we left a prayer in Tagalog and English on a small wooden board for 200 yen (wiki link).

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After along day trip, the most grueling was a trip to...  Costco!!!  These guys built their warehouse in the middle of nowhere in Kanazawa Seaside.  So far from the subway station, it was inconvenient especially when you don't have your own car and you have to transport bulk groceries.  Costco, I hate you!

A Day In Odaiba

I was back in Tokyo on September 25.  I was feeling exhausted after a couple of days away from Tokyo metro.  But in the afternoon, I thought I'd take it easy and take a trip to the man-made island, Odaiba.

First stop is Tokyo Beach.  Walking along the boardwalk and along the sand until I reached ... 

The Statue of Liberty??! 

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Yes, Japan is the jealous type and they want one of their own.  It's also from France, but its smaller than the American version (wiki link). 

Then, we stop by Fuji Tv and toured their studio promenade where you can peek into the studio sets and tapings from a window up above.  There is also some memorial sets that you can take photos with like "Sushi" (wiki link).

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Last stop was the Tokyo Big Sight (wiki link), another colossal oddity.

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Yokohama Day Trip

I took a trip to Yokohama City on September 28. The first stop was The Landmark Tower (wiki link). This is an impressive tower (the highest observatory in Japan) that can see all 360 degrees of Yokohama and as far away as Tokyo from far away. This building also has the fastest elevator in Japan at max speed of 750 meters per minute (28 Mph) which they show off in a digital spedometer on the elevator.

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Then I took a ride on a boat ferry that dropped me off at Yamashita Park, where I walked

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around and looked at the Sea Guardian Statue, the Red Shoes, and the Indian Drinking Fountain along the park. There was suppose to be a bike rental in the park area too, but I walked around and didn't find it. It was suppose to be near the lighthouse tower. After that, I walked my way to Japan's largest chinatown and had dinner in a kaiten style chinese food restaurant that caught my interest. Then I worked my way to Yokohama Stadium which is home to the BayStars baseball club and took pictures. This was the last stop and I took the train back to Tokyo.

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My Trip To Hakone

After the trip to Mt. Fuji in the morning, we headed down to Hakone in the afternoon to visit Lake Ashi (wiki link).  This is where I got my Hakone Secret Box.  We reached the lake and took a 20 minute cruise 

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to Hakone Komagatake Ropeway.  We rode the cable car to the top of Mt. Komagatake and viewed Lake Ashi 

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 from there.  We also visited the shrine on top of the mountain 

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 and took pictures of peculiar rocks that were stacked on top of each other there.

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Mt. Fuji Trip

Well its been a hectic week.  You can say I've been away from the keyboard (afk) because I have been site-seeing this past week.  I have left Tokyo a few times to explore the other parts of Japan.  On September 23, We headed off to climb Mt. Fuji 

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(on a tour bus).  We reached the 5/8 rest stations to the summit of Mt. Fuji (wiki link) and headed back down.   I sent a few post cards from there that was rubber stamped exclusively from Mt. Fuji.  

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We were the lucky ones on that day because most tour groups don't get to see Mt. Fuji summit because it is often covered with clouds (75% of visitors do not get to see the summit).  Special thanks to Mr. Take, our tour guide.  He made our tour memorable.

They say, "Only a fool would climb Mt. Fuji."  

Hakone Trick Box

I bought a rare box from my trip to Hakone.  It's called many names but it only comes from Hakone. 

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It is a trick box (link) that can only be opened by following a series of steps.  Mine takes 27 steps to open.  It's intricate decoration is beautiful and it is designed to confuse the untrained user.  I made sure I have photocopies of the instructions to open it so that I always have a back-up.  Now, I need something classified to put in it.

The Magic of Disney in Tokyo

This weekend, I spent two days in Tokyo Disney Resort (wiki link). They have two parks here, Disneyland and Disney Sea. Tokyo Disneyland looks exactly like Disneyland California.

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It is down to the exact general park layout, but almost all the words spoken were in the theme rides, like Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blaster, is in Japanese. Good thing, I've been to Disneyland California because I've heard the English language version. I bought a good souvenir display of Minnie Mouse in a kimono outfit. The only place you could get it is at Chiba Traders Shop in the park. I rode the must rides for adults like Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blaster, Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Carribean. And everyone has to visit It's A Small World ride.

Disney Sea (wiki link)is different. It's theme is the many coasts and harbors of the world.

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It's a better park than Disneyland for thrill seekers. My favorite was Storm Rider. It had that Japanese Anime feel to it like Macross and Final Fantasy VII with the Computer Generated Images (CGI).

I'm proud to say that I've been to Tokyo Disneyland. Another Disney dream come true.

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Drinking @ Shimbashi

Picture of Tamaya beer house.

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On Thursday night, I was back in Shinbashi to get familiar with drinking the way Japanese working class men and women do. These bars are often small and tight. This actually is one of the bigger drinking bars. I met up with my friends Yohko and Ikuko. These pretty ladies are going to be my guides to the many exotic Japanese beer foods. Don't be fooled. They know this art well.

From Beer Foods and beer night

Yes, they love these giblets and they are determined to enlighten me of "Japanese traditional beer drinking" during these last two trips to the beer house.
*I noticed that the beer here is better when served in a glass. They don't drink from the bottle (most of them anyways).* Warning: Do not try these at home unless you or an expert or Japanese!!! Or in their case, both.
Beer food #1 Tamago Yaki

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Beer food #2 Yakitori

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Beer food #3 Goya Chample

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Beer food #4 Leba Sashi

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Scenes from Benten-do

A couple of days ago, I took a side trip to Benten-do on my way home from the Tokyo National Museum. This park is like a strip of land in the middle of a large pond in honor of the patron goddess of arts. There is a boat rental here (which I'd like to try sometime) behind the temple. Here are my favorite photos.

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Tokyo National Museum

Yesterday, I went to the Tokyo National Museum (wiki link) near Ueno Station. It was a pretty good museum to go to. It had a lot of the things that define the Japanese people and their culture. I arrived there 2 hours before closing. I wanted some time to hit the gift shop before closing so (like before), my goal was to finish the museum in 1 hour and 30 minutes. This means, I'll have to cut out the reading and instead take pictures of the labels and anecdotes to read later. I also took pictures of their exhibits as I went along. Photography was forbidden in only a few exhibits that were lent by private owners.
In the museum, my favorites were the Noh masks, Japanese paintings, beautiful kimonos, and of course their samurai warrior collection. Take a look.

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It was enriching. Look at me soaking it in!

Conveyer Sushi

I love to eat sushi. When we saw an 80 yen per plate special, we raided it! Even though we had movie tickets that begins in 45 minutes, we couldn't pass it up. As the plates revolved we pulled 2-3 plates off at a time. (See video of conveyor sushi plates.)

We stuffed sushi in our mouths like there was no tomorrow. I even heard an American group of three sitting next to us say, "They are even more hungrier than we are." In the end, it took us 15 minutes to devour 15 plates of sushi (2 sushi per plate). Thats like one sushi every 30 seconds. That's a personal best!

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Unfortunately, we forgot to thoroughly read the special offer. Only certain colored plates were 80 yen (the blue plates). So we spent approximately $30 for the 2 of us. Which was still not bad. Then we had about 20 minutes left to get to the theater. We made it on time. I love it when a plan comes together.

It's Aaa Whaaattt??!

I saw another Harajuku oddity the other night. At first, I thought it was a random "Engrish" word that the store owner chose for a candy store or ice cream shop.

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I pointed it out to my friend. But no. My friend took me there to look inside. It was indeed a shop that sold novelty condoms. I don't wanna describe each merchandise but it was pretty extensive and these photos can supply the answers.

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And my recommendations...

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In America, I notice it's more discrete, a.k.a "Adult Store" or "Night Dreams", seeing "Condomania" sure is shocking.

Performers At Harajuku Yoyogi Park

It was a fun day yesterday.  I spent the day in Harajuku and Yoyogi Park (Remember Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Girls).  I took videos of performers like the Dancing Elvises and that cool band that rocked the park, Primeaddict.  I also took pictures of cos-play (wiki link)that make Harajuku's Yoyogi Park famous.  Watch and see the photos.

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