Japan Log : Day 9

I was bound to set off for Kyoto on tat day, but since i was staying in Kyoto for a relatively long time (3 nights), I took things easy in the morning and took my time to visit Takayama's daily morning market. Walked along the canal, bought the traditional Saru-something, or the Faceless Baby Monkey, which the obligatory souvenir from Takayama, fed the carps and eventually left for Kyoto. As I checked out, I complimented the owner for his beautiful ryokan; he was rather embarrassed by th compliment and even gave me a nice pair of chopsticks as a souvenir. He was a kind man.

Japan Log : Day 8

Although comfortable, the night was rather cold as the gas heater automatically turned itself off during the night, the thermometer indicated 11 Celsius degrees when I woke up. I did slept well though, I don't mind cold weather at all; 11°C is enough to make me realized it's slightly cold. I took things easy on that morning as my next destination was not so far (Takayama), so I took my time dressing up and when I was zip my jacket, I see on the mirror some kind of huge insect that was on my jacket. Now normally if I were in Canada, I would have had a rather good idea of the insect on first sight; if it's dangerous or not, etc, but now I was in Japan and I had not a freaking idea of what that thing was ! I quickly pushed that thing off me (took two times) and it landed directly in the garbage bin on the opposite side of the room; talk about aiming. On a closer look ,it looked like some sort of cross over between a spider and a grasshopper...

Japan Log : Day 7

After the wonderful night I had in the bus, I was ready for the day at 6h20, when the bus arrived Kanazawa. One of my concern about taking the night bus was that I would be exhausted form the lack of sleep in the bus. This was not of my concern anymore as I passed sleept as much as I would in a regular day; I would highly recommend the night buses of Nohi Bus Co. to everyone. Once in Kanazawa, my goal was Shirakawa-go and I knew there was a bus line that connected the two cities, but I also knew it was on reservation only, which I didn't had, so I instead headed toward Takayama and take a reservation free bus over there. This plan turned out great since I would have arrived a little bit too early in Shirakawa if I took the bus from Kanazawa.

Japan Log : Day 6

Didn't really had a precise idea of w, hat I was going to do on the 6^th day, except that I needed to return for Tokyo. I left Date Masamune's city as soon as I could and jumped in the Hikari shinkansen this time, which I fould to be much faster then the Tsubasa. I needed to go back to Tokyo for catching the night bus that was going to Kanazawa, but that bus was an overnight highway bus that was leaving at 22h20 and I arrived at Tokyo at 13h, I had no clear idea of what to do, so first I decided to go scout the bus station a little in order to have a good idea of the place and left my big pack-sack in a coin locker around there.

Japan Log : Day 5

I took the fifth day rather smoothly; after waking up from a wonderful night, bathing in the onsen one last time and enjoying my first traditional Japanese breakfast I set out for Sendai where my hotel was located. I didn't have a significant interest for Sendai, but staying in Matsushima, where I wanted to spend my day, was rather expensive, so I opted for a reasonably priced business hotel in Sendai, which is 25 min away by train. One again, I got a lift from the ryokan to the bus station and as I told the staff guy that I was going to Sendai, he started talking to me about his parents that were apparently living there.

Japan Log : Day 4

On that day, I first had to take the train from Ueno to Yamagata and then from there, take the bus up to Zao Onsen which is located atop of some mountain 50 min away from Yamagata. The ride from Ueno to Yamagata was by shinkansen, the Japanese bullet train; I was eager to ride one for my first time. While waiting in the station I saw many MAX models, which were totally impressive: their aerodynamic noses do look like bullets and they had 2 floors ! The model I rode was a Tsubasa Shinkansen, slightly less impressive, but still awesome to take. The seats were comfortable, the interior design pretty nice and it rode on the rails very smoothly.

Japan Log : Day 3

The main event I had planned for day 3 was a long awaited shopping session a Akihabara, the electric town, also known as the paradise of otaku. I didn't plan on buying a lot of stuff though, as I was going to end what I bought overseas to my home since I didn't want to carry a lot of stuff with me (plus I knew I was going to buy figures anyway).

Japan Log : Day 2

After that packed out first day I had, I planned something much lighter for that day, not to mention I had to change hotel. I took my sweet tome during morning packing up my stuff and checking out with no problems. In overall, Shinjuku Sun Lite Hotel was a pretty nice place, not too far from 2 metro stations and 10 min away from the JR line. The staff was helpful and polite, like almost any staff of any kind I encountered. My second hotel was located near the Ueno station, but since it was too early to check-in, I let my main baggage in a coin locker at the station for the sum of 300 Yen and left for Ikebukuro.

More after the break

Japan Log : Day 1

I was rather happy I decided not to sleep in the plane when I woke up on that day; no jet lag whatsoever. Woke up on Japanese time around 7h00 which is what I wanted. Took a shower (I had to bend in order to have my entire head under the water !) and painfully shaved myself with the provided 2 blades disposable razor... oh the pain. Drank one of those “coffee in a can”, then I left.

More after the break

Japan Log : Arrival

Things went smoothly on the arrival day; plane wasn't late, didn't have any trouble at the customs, baggage wasn't lost or something, the only thing is that I was extremely tied; to fight against the jet lag, I had to force myself not to sleep in the place. The result combined with the 13h jet lag was a sleepless night. I taught I was ok in the plane, but the fatigue really kicked off in the Narita Express ('NEX) from Narita Terminal 1 to Shinjuku, where my hotel was located.

Despite being extremely excited about my awaited trip in Japan, I somehow managed to actually sleep in the train.

I arrived at Shinjuku around 6h30 and the sun has set down a long time ago. Now it was time to find my hotel, which all I knew about was that it was at the east of the station along with a few maps; I was way too much tired to notice the extremely helpful station maps that are located in every stations, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure it would have made things much more easier. I decided to just fellow the indications toward the East Exit, which dropped me somewhere near Kabuchiko... now if you've ever been to Kabuchiko at night, just imagine having to find your way in these neon lightened streets with a pretty big backpack when you haven't sleep for 27 hours. Quite the badtrip if you ask me.

However I did found a map and managed to orient myself toward my hotel, the Sun Lite Shinjuku.

No trouble for the check-in, despite my sloppy Japanese and I finally made my way for my room.

Room was nice and clean, with toilet and shower/bath, Japanese TV and LAN internet access. Like someone told me not so long before, after a 13h flight all you want to do is wash yourself; I found this to be indeed very true, so I filled the bath and relaxed for a good 45 min in it, before heading to bed in preparation of the rather packed day I would have the day after.

The pillow was pretty hard though...  

Soon Enough...

First post ! I know  few that are going to be pleased about that...but for those of you who don't know about me or this blog, I'll be posting various updates and thoughts about my trip in Japan, where I'm heading in less than 2 hours.

I'm presently sitting near gate 175 in direction for Tokyo at 13h00 Toronto time, patiently (and impatiently) waiting to leave for that looooong 13h flight.

I haven't much else to say beside maybe that just the fact that being surrounded by Japaneses in the waiting area already makes me excited, hopefully I won't suffer any heat conditions once I arrive...

See ya !