Ueno and the peony garden

The picture explains what we did the minute we got to Ueno. We got Sakura Ice Cream and found some Sakura to eat it in. It just made sense. Most of the Sakura trees were wilting at this point, but in Ueno some have super strength and flower for longer. I could say Flower Power but, yeah they have Flower Power. Just glad we managed to find some late bloomers. Sigh

Then we just strolled around the park on our way back to the private flower garden. You can tell this impressed me much!
Quickly learned how to do the whole Macro thing using nothing but a hand held digital camera, I myself am happy with the results. These flowers are so big and so delicate looking. Almost like hand made paper.

Anyway the next day we went to Asakusa and Okikubo for one of the most famous Ramen shops in Tokyo, then Nakano for a quick peruse and back to Ikebukuro! Pics coming

No More Rain

While it most certainly is not sunny, there was very little rain yesterday so we thought it would be good to head to Yoyogi Park and to the bigest Shinto temple in the area, it may well be the biggest in Japan.

The walk from Harajuku station to the temple was suitably grand. The trees were massive and making a ruckus up and down the long path. I had imagined it with less tourists but I gues that would be hypocritical going on a Saturday and being a tourist. I tried to omit most of them in my pictures. Luckily there wasn't a fat American kid going 'daddy, daddy I wanna play Nintendo', that would of really interrupted my calm.

Yoyogi Shinto Temple

It was lovely though, It wasn't difficult to put it in a more serene setting. We also saw a traditional wedding.

After this we passed by all the morons outside Harajuku station again and walked through the city. We then went to UT to get Ando a t-shirt from the best t-shirt shop ive ever seen!

UT, UNIQLO in Harajuku

Behind all the Otaku and goth kids Harajuku is incredibly hip and really quite awesome. We decided to try a crepe from the constantly busy crepe stalls. I couldn't do it justice trying to describe it, Maria will no doubt be much better.

Strawberry Cheescake Crepe

We stopped off at Shibuya for an hour before heading home but didn't really get a chance to sample it properly. Its similar to Shinjuku but slightly less intense.

Rainy Ikebukuro

Every channel on T.V has commentary on the constant rain, either that or japanese celebrities spazzing out and being completely unable to be funny without some maniac expression and their trousers falling down to sheer uproar.Seriously, there was a fat man who seemed to be the butt of all the jokes.He was wearing a man girdle then he quite obviously let his trousers drop.Then the other guys actually literally rolled around on the floor.The tv here is so wierd.The only way they can act is by pulling ridiculous faces all the time.

(Maria) I did watch an awesome japanese soap opera.There was a woman running wearing full geisha costume.It transpired that her elaborate geisha hair was actually a wig when it showed her running in slow motion and her wig was bouncing back and forward on her noggin!Then two guys proposed to her and there were lots of shot of her looking painfully at two engagement rings.It ended when a girl saw one of her suitors hugging another girl, she ran and told the poor girl trying to decide who looked really hurt.OOH, what a cliffhanger!



So yeah its very rainy. It may have hindered us but didn't stop us doing our Japanese tradition, eating Ramen and going into big, bright and noisy shops. Maria also bought Sakura tea which smells excatly like the Ueno Ice Cream.I got some Autumnal Darjeeling as well, it smells absolutely incredible, that and the name felt so romantic that i parted with 7Squid for it!

So nothing major and no decent pictures to upload so heres a drum game for the ps2 and one for the DS that Maria bought after playing them in the arcade.

[Maria] Kate, one of the awesome people we met here told me about the drum game in the arcade.I found one in the next arcade we went to and just had to play it. WOWEE! AWESOME FUN!!! Then a couple of days later we were schmoozing around Akihabra going into every game shop we came across when I found the game for the ps2, with drum!!It had to be purchased and I spent the rest of the day looking like an excited kid at paul and exclaiming "I got the drum dame!".
I've spent most of the rest of the holiday waiting like a kid waiting for Christmas (Ku-ri-si-mas) until I could get home and play it UNTIL I found it on the DS!!I dashed back to the hotel, eagerly ripped open the packaging and put it in my ds quicker than you can say Meccha! Taiko no Tatsujin DS 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken (the full title of the game). To my delight and excitement it has the Mario theme tunes as one of the levels, this is mariary goodness bliss!!!
And here is the PS1 Shin Megami Tensei II and a guide that Maria got me as a very nice present.
Hopefully tomorrow will be nicer so we can enjoy Ueno again.

Yokohama

Went to Yokohama yesterday which was great. Its a kind of reclaimed harbour place and has a really strange timeless feel to it and apparently we went on the fastest elevator in the world.



It started at level 69 but i dont think that was in the video. After that we just wandered around looking at random stuff. Played 'Arm Champs 2' in the arcade which was hilarious because I remember when that game first came out many years ago and me being in awe at the guys who could do it. I also managed to remember all the characters in order of difficulty which was strange.

It was a great day that ended with a trawl through Shinjuku at night where there were numerous guys with impossibly large and perfect hair. We went for ramen and 'Mister Donut' which was great after walking for over 14 hours.

Now the move to Ikebukuro for the last leg. Just found out theres an almost unparalleled Mark Rothko room in Japan near the Sakura station so I think I'll be going there. Weather is horrendously wet everythings on our doorstep in Ikebukuro so thats fine.

Akihabara (again) and Ueno Park

We started the day at 9.am with a group of four people; Chris, Mel, Kate and Susan that we had met a couple of nights ago in the hotel by going to the obsevation tower in Tokyo Metropolitan building with them. The view was pretty incredible: it reminded me of the trip to Kyoto when, in 2.5 hours we ran into zero green belt however I couldn't help but be amazed at this view from the size of the ventilation fans on some buildings to how 360 degrees around me were buildings as far as the eye can see.

Shinjuku Skylne

After that we went outside and a local sauntered across to us, tweaked both mine and Chris' facial hair, then proceeded to tell us how he thought Europeans were more akin to monkeys than human beings. After the massive but hilarious insult we went to Akihabara again to show them Super Potato. Akihabara's sensory overload really started to grate on me so we left in the hope of getting ice cream and going to the park, so then on to Ueno Park...

Sakura, Chocolate,Melon,Purple sweet potato (yes, potato),green tea and Vanilla

The contrast between the two couldn't be more obvious because Ueno was utterly beautifully stunning. I obviously got Sakura ice cream which was lovely and walked around the park in utter bliss. We then saw another local walking backwards, nonchalantly enjoying the park in rewind, negotiating the corners with obviously frightening aplomb. Then, by sure luck, we saw the peony garden: a path winding at right angles through the most beautiful and ornately delicate multi-coloured peonies with little umbrellas to shade them from burning in the sun. This is the Japan that I wanted to see, Japanese peonies with overhanging Maples and Acers that must be wonderfully looked after and treated with massive respect, like they should. All this with perfect lighting and traditional Japanese music softening the air and completing the most tangible Japanese experience known only to both Maria and I as part of a geographically and chronologically distant culture. Seeing it in real life made real a long obsession of mine through years of Art, gidai-geki movies and books. Needless to say we had a great day.

So Kyoto...

Yeah. To save time I'll say we are both glad, very glad to be back in Tokyo. Took some decent pictures of Daitokuji Temple in Kitaoji which is in this really beautiful complex of perfect gardens and family temples that lay merely two minutes from our ryokan. Most of my tourist efforts were halted prematurely due to a horrible cold and traditional Japanese sleeping arrangments which felt a lot like sleeping on the floor, because it is just sleeping on the floor. I have been thinking recently about how lots of things in Japan make sense, some perhaps might be a little elaborate and unnecessary(like the trip activated flushing noise to mask your lavatory exploits) however they are usually based upon sound logic. Ergo my confusion at the whole sleeping on the floor thing.

Anyway Kyoto's comparitively sleepy and cultural roots were very much to my liking, not as much as Akihabara today however. Jesus Mary and Joseph its utterly insane. Notable among the insanities were; a shop with 5 floors of Maid outfits catering for sizes up to and including XL male, rows and rows of shops selling laptops, headphones, ipods, PSPs and DS lites etc and, the jem among it all was a retro gaming shop called, ahem Super Potato (I think, Japanese is still weak). If you want it, its here for a price, Mario Mushroom Slippers, 500 pound PS1 games, soundtracks, tvs playing Saturn, Nes, Snes, Mega Drive games, and every Shin Megami Tensei game I wanted!, and the crown? a freaking arcade at the top with old Neo Geo SNK arcade machines, ghouls n goblins and many others.

Culture This! I'll come back in 10 years time, OK 5 years time and take in the culture! AKIHABARA FTW!!!one one WOOSH!!

A Dichotomy I may be but the Cherry Blossoms and breathtaking, a sea of floating pink loveliness scenting the air! More pics to come!

Just Leaving Tokyo for Kyoto

http://s256.photobucket.com/albums/hh184/SilentHitoshura/?albumview=slideshow
Click here for our Tokyo Pictures!!^^^^^

We arrived 3 days ago and since then have been to Shinjuku, Kichijoji Park, Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Harajuku. The weather has been utterly glorious, can't really have asked for any better. Because of the brilliant train system we had to bypass Shinjuku to get to Harajuku and Kichijoji but we did manage to see some of Shinjuku. We went round the shops, played SIlent Hill and Time Crisis in an Arcade then went home early due to heavy shopping bags and incredibly aching feet.

Just before that we went to the ghibli museum via the park in Kichijoji. The park was beautiful, filled with people lazing about on blue sheets taking shelter from the glorious sun underneath the ubiqutous Sakura which lined the lake that ran through it and doubled the number of blossoms in its cryastal clear waters.

We then went to the Ghibli museum which was obviously fantastic. The rooms were filled with inspired installations which really fleshed out the whole Ghibli back catalogue, especially Laputa, Spiritied Away and Totoro. Symbolising the interactive nature of the museum with the emphasis on catering for children and complete immersion was a big, furry Catbus covered in young Japanese children with a smile surpassing that worn by the Catbus itself. And standing at the side looking rather left out was a jelous Maria who was almost set to pounce as she really, really wanted a shot(and probably a little nap inside, can't says I blame her). Unfortunately no pictures were allowed so I have no proof but it was incredible. After seeing the massive robot from Laputa, re-creations of Miyazakis studio, interactive cinema reels and the installations we went to the shop for the obligatory Totoro fluffy toy and a Nausicaa Art Book.

Harajuku was great. Its rows and rows and districts of shopping paradise from the cheaper market to Laforet (5 floors of clothes shops ranging in price but catering solely to women and ladyboys, very, very convincing ladyboys) to almost a whole district of trendy urban shops including a whole Carhartt shop. We spent so long we had no time to traverse the main shopping street but we did buy 10 t-shirts in a tube from a fantastic shop with rows and rows of t-shirts in a tube from anime to videogames to artists creations all displayed with red LED numbers underneath. Like fast food shopping.

Right so we are off to Kyoto today and I'm running out of time. I'll upload some pics as well.

Needless to say both Maria and I are in our element and having the best time imaginable.

PBR