Iwatayama Monkey Park

This was one of the most amazing things I've done in Japan, and thus in my entire life.

First, I went to Arashiyama, an old style town built around a river (but I will put all that in the next post). In Arashiyama is the Iwatayama Monkey Park, with promise of seeing wild monkeys.



I thought it might be interesting, so I payed the 560-Yen admission to the park, and started to climb the mountain along the path.



and I climbed...



and climbed...



and climbed...




Until I got to the top and realized that I had been greatly under-informed about the monkeys.















That's right, the lot of 120 monkeys were EVERYWHERE, just sitting, walking, eating, and playing amongst the humans that come to see them. It was simply amazing to interact with wild monkeys like this (and a bit exhilarating when one of the alpha-males chased me off; a bit camera-shy.)

I'll post video soon (it's not uploading right now)

Bancho Dance-oh

This really made my day.

*edit* Oh yeah, this post is totally dedicated to Erin.






For those of you who don't know, these guys are the epitome of the "bancho" or "tough-guy" stereotype (pompadour and all). Why they were in a circle dancing to Japanese 50's-American style music is beyond me but boy am I glad they were.

Aomori Prefecture

Aomori prefecture was simply beautiful. Unlike the old-town city of Kyoto or the crazyness that is Tokyo, Aomori is filled with a very beautiful natural environment. It's so neat to see the huge rice fields being worked on by resident farmers.
I'm gonna keep the photo-count short on this one, because the connection here is slow, but rest assured that there are plenty more to be seen for those who are interested after I get back.

Crazy Places

*edit* added some more (not sure why some rotated after uploading... that's weird.)
Enjoy.



Yeah, I bought this belt.




I wanna find one of them nameless flowers.




nice to see the sewerage is being taken care of.


What kind of planning are they doing?


I can tell.


just look at that polka-dot dress.


at least it's elegant




Ladies aren't the only ones.




so um, what?




You should really get that looked at.




As you can probably guess, I was roxored.


I do wonder what ds burgers taste like.


well? let's go.


when normal convenience is just not enough.


Junky, but special!


This name must entice young men a-plenty. (btw, look at the guy in the top window)


It's new, yet Junky!


Yep, you can have it and eat it too.


This post is dedicated to my sister Hannah

Tokyo!

Alrighty, here are some photographs from Tokyo. I will update again with some videos as well, but it's late already, and these images took forever to upload. The first image is the hostel that Alex and I stayed at, dorm style. Our room smelled like an old sock, because someone else in the room didn't do his laundry, but other than that it was an inexpensive and nice place. It was like being at summer camp :)

Something Special

Sorry, no Tokyo shots yet, but here's some more artsy shots I got in Kyoto.

Kyoto Cityscape



Kyoto Tower



Kyoto Eki Tracks



Gion: Houses by the River

Shinkansen to Tokyo

*edit* Oh yeah, I forgot to mention a very interesting aspect about the shinkansen! (I was riding one again today up to Misawa at the very tip of Japan's main island for about 4 hours).

When going around curves, at speeds of 300KPH you would think that the force would knock everyone over or pin them up against the side of a train. This is solved by making the whole train tilt when going around curves. The centrifugal force keeps it feeling like gravity is roughly orthogonal to the ground of the train, making even the beverages completely undisturbed. It's really un-nerving because suddenly the landscape will tilt up or down around you but it will feel like you're going perfectly straight and perfectly level (they have it really fine-tuned to the speed/curve).
Take a look at the picture and you’ll see how the train is perfectly straight, but the horizon-line is all bent.




I got lots of Tokyo photographs, but I'm only gonna post some stuff from the train ride right now.

Gion

These were all taken in Gion :)
I'm going back again during the day, so more to come.

These first two are long-exposure night shots.

Comments Answered

I'd like to remark that I don't really know how to reply to comments (or if that is possible) so this post is devoted to answering some of them.

Tommy: Yes, but it's funny to see how the Japanese appropriate American brands. Evidently their McDonalds are actually pretty good, they grill the burgers on the spot like In-n-Out, rather than just warming up pre-cooked meat like at ours.

Erika: Your comments are all great and hillarious XD. I'm not going to feed your addiction, so you will recieve no cell charms! dame desu yo! I am saving all of my "yennies" too (as well as the go-en) because they are useless and just cannot be spent anywhere. The go-en are cool because of the hole (and the lack of a greek number, only kanji). I'm thinking of making cool necklaces out of them for people :)
I'm sorry, but a lolita outfit for 2500-en? it just can't be done! I will find something very cool, though (though as a last resort I will have to break down my moral barrier and feed your obscene addiction).

Liz: What?! the cityscape is AWESOME in Kyoto! The mix of old and new is SO interesting. You can look down the street and see a building that is easily 200 years old right next to a new-age apartment complex. It's too cool. :O
I am going to Tokyo today, then up to Misawa in the northern-most region of this island, so no temples yet (well we did visit one at night, maybe I'll post some of the night-time pictures I got.)

Everyone: Thanks for the comments, I read all of them :)

Japanese Money

Japanese Yen is interesting because the smallest bill you can get is a 1,000 Yen (~$10). When I first got to Japan (after I exchanged money) I put one of these bills into a vending machine at the airport to get a drink, and was shocked when only a few coins popped out; "Where is the rest of my money?!" I thought.



The coins come as follows: 500, 100, 50, 10, 5, 1
Because of this, I end up carrying a lot of change with me all the time now. Imagine a $5 coin about the size of a quarter.



The coin highlighted above is my favorite coin (50 yen). I like that it has a hole in it, and the amount is convenient. It's about as big as a nickel.

The 1 yen coins are as useful as pennies, and in fact some people won't take them. Fortunately they're made out of what feels like alluminum, so they're very light.

Kyoto

Osaka

So I hit Osaka airport, and managed to find my way through customs, convert $700 to Yen, buy a day pass at JR trains, get on the right train, and get off at the correct staion, all with my fairly basic Japanese. I'm surprised at how useful the Japanese I know has been. Without it I would have gotten on the wrong train or stayed lost at Kyoto station. Most people really put forth an effort to understand me, even if they don't know any English, and it has worked out well so far.

The plane rides were, as expected, miserable. The train ride, however, was exhilerating and fun. It was SO fast, and there was so much to see in the hour ride from Osaka to Kyoto. Here's a video of the train crossing the super long bridge from the airport to Osaka city.

Made it to Seoul, Korea!

Well I made it to Seoul after a long 13 hour trip, and I'm sitting in the airport eating the Korean version of Japanese food. I just couldn't get myself to order the Korean food, I couldn't recognize any of it.

Japan Time Clock

Just posting to show off this nifty Japan-time clock code below. I set it to automatically appear on my posts from now on, that way people can keep track of what time it is where I am when I leave.

Trip Calendar

Alright, so my flight details are set, and I've started to plan what all I will be doing on my trip. Here's a calendar that I will be filling in as I go:

*edits*
02-13-2008 - My flight information changed a bit, so I updated the calendar
04-14-2008 - Updated flight information again, and filled in some possible events.
05-05-2008 - Filled in the rest of the schedule.

Plane Tickets and Planning

Well since I am going to visit Japan in a few months, I figured that I should make a blog about it. I just bought the plane ticket last night (early this morning rather) making this trip official (since airfare is non-refundable) Huzzah!

I decided to fly with Asiana Airlines because of some reviews that I read which favored it.
I'll be flying from LAX into the Kansai airport in Osaka, then I will take a train to Kyoto some miles north-east.

Here are the details about my flight:

Traveling to Osaka Mon 12-May-08 Los Angeles (LAX) Depart 12:30 am Terminal TOM BRADLEY INTL TERM to Seoul (ICN) Arrive 6:00 am +1 day 5,968 mi (9,605 km) Duration: 13hr 30mn OZ Asiana Airlines Flight: 203 3Economy/Coach Class, Breakfast, Boeing 777 Tue 13-May-08 Seoul (ICN) Depart 10:00 am to Osaka (KIX) Arrive 11:40 am 526 mi (847 km) Duration: 1hr 40mn OZ Asiana Airlines Flight: 112 3Economy/Coach Class, Breakfast, AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A330-300 Total distance: 6,494 mi (10,451 km) Total duration: 15hr 10mn (19hr 10mn with connections) Traveling to Los Angeles Fri 30-May-08 Osaka (KIX) Depart 5:00 pm to Seoul (ICN) Arrive 7:00 pm 526 mi (847 km) Duration: 2hr 0mn OZ Asiana Airlines Flight: 113 3Economy/Coach Class, Lunch, AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A330-300 Seoul (ICN) Depart 8:00 pm to Los Angeles (LAX) Arrive 2:40 pm Terminal TOM BRADLEY INTL TERM 5,968 mi (9,605 km) Duration: 10hr 40mn OZ Asiana Airlines Flight: 204 3Economy/Coach Class, Boeing 777 Total distance: 6,494 mi (10,451 km) Total duration: 12hr 40mn (13hr 40mn with connections)