Japan Day 20 (ni jū)

Daytrip to Nikko

Today we took the Shinkansen (bullet train) out to Utsunomiya and from there a rickety train to Nikko. Nikko is a resort sort of town in the vein of Solvang, a small mountain town that's very touristy and scenic.

When we got to the Nikko station it was drizzly and overcast, which actually was a relief from the Tokyo weather. It was about 10-15 degrees cooler up there.


The bus station was very confusing so we found a stewardess (information girl) and asked her what was up. She spoke passable English and gave us an English version of a map that made things much easier. We figured out what bus ticket to buy, and she told us where to wait.


After slowly slogging up the hill through some sort of traffic jam, we got dropped off at the base of the shrine area.



The first Shinto shrine contained three awesome statues that were about 30 feet high, made of wood and covered in gold flake. Of course we weren't allowed to take pictures. If there hadn't of been anyone else there I would have though. Conveniently there was a tour guide going through the same time as us, inconveniently, his commentary was in Japanese.


The next stop was a Buddhist temple. Once again, no inside pictures.


It had a nice garden next to it. Wish we had monsoonal rain here so I could have one like that.


Everything around here was gorgeous.


This is the path up to the main shrine complex.


Once through the big torii, you get to the first gate, which is dwarfed by the giant trees.



From this courtyard you can then see the big main gate. The wooden carving on it is amazing.



Once through the gate you can see the main shrine.


They've got a nice supply of sake here :)


Under a sleeping kitten, and the start of innumerable steps to get up to Tokugawa's tomb.



The step's go up, and up, and UP!




Once you're up in the clouds, you find the final resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, that ruled Japan from 1600 to 1868.



After that we headed back down the mountan to check out the other shrines in the area. Here's the view looking down into the courtyard from the first gate.


We rounded a corner at the bottom and headed up towards the next shrine.


We exchanged camera shots with a nice Japanese couple.


I believe this is one of the oldest shrines in Japan:


Down a hill and around the corner, another big gate, and another big shrine.


All of these shrines are in the middle of an amazing looking forest.


We headed back to the bus stop and took the bus back to town.


Of course Debbie had to stop at the Hello Kitty store.


We hopped the rickety old train back to Utsunomiya. We had to stand because a load of Russian tourists got there ahead of us and took all the seats.


It was a relief to see the shinkansen come into the station. We got on after a small amount of confusion in the station, and finding the right track. The ride back to Tokyo was nice and smooth.

Japan Day 19 (jū kyū)

Lazy Day

Sometimes you've got to just rest and hang out while on vacation.

So some impressions of Japan. First of all, I don't know how they function in the summer. I can't imagine having to be dressed up to go to work only to break out in a full sweat every time I step outside.

Related to that, what kind of magic do Japanese women possess that they can walk around dressed to the nines, and look like its 65 degrees outside? I mean, they don't seem to sweat at all. Maybe they have their sweat glands removed as children. They also seem to dress up much more often than Americans do. Dresses are very common, and heels are worn even when it would seem to us more sensible to wear sneakers.

As long as I'm on about women, I like how girls working at information booths all wear uniforms that look like stewardesses from the 50's. You don't even have to look for an 'Information' sign, just look for the gaggle of stewardesses hanging around. That goes for girls working elevators too. All the big buildings that shuffle lots of people into and out of elevators have two or three elevator handlers to manage the flow of traffic. That includes the one that stands inside the elevator facing the wall, telling everyone what amazing sights await them once they get to wherever they're going.

Money transactions are interesting too. All places that you might buy stuff have a little tray on the counter near the register where you put your money. While they are organizing and wrapping your goods (they wrap like crazy here) you can get your money arranged. You don't hand it directly to the cashier (unless you are a clueless gaijin), you place it on the tray. They also won't take it until they think you are done getting just the right bit of change on there. With a nod from you they take the money and give you change. Sometimes they put it back on the tray, more often they offer the change and receipt up with both hands like an offering.

I'm still not quite used to having shops on multiple floors of tall buildings. Maybe its the same in New York, but never having been to New York, I don't know. In LA everything is spread out into its own building. Here you might have Best Buy on one floor, Target on another, and restaurants on a third. Oh, and if a store covers multiple floors, usually you pay for stuff you get on the floor you get it on. They don't want everyone crushing the bottom floor registers so you pay on each different floor you get stuff on.

I've noticed that expensive items that are small are usually tied together with zip-tie type things to prevent theft. To me it looks like you get to steal five of the same small expensive item instead of just one, but what do I know?

Drink vending machines are literally everywhere you look. They have usually have 2 or three varieties of Coke, plus water, tea, and strange citrusey energy drinks. You'll never die of thirst here in Japan as long as you have spare change in your pockets.

Usually these vending machines have little trash cans next to them, but if not, you'll be hanging on to those empties for a bit. While in the US trashcans seem to be everywhere, here in Japan they are hard to find. The most reliable thing to do is look for a vending machine because 3 times out of 4 there'll be a recycling bin next to it. Then you have to sort based on whether you're throwing away a glass or plastic bottle, or burnable or unburnable trash. For the seeming lack of trash cans, the city seems to be remarkably clean. Granted we're staying in the equivalent of Beverly Hills, but even the other farther-flung parts of Tokyo are cleaner than LA.

Japanese TV - weird. Debbie and I have been interviewed twice for Japanese TV while we've been here. The first was about Hillary's cleavage, and the second was regarding our thoughts about Russian female athletes. Like I said, weird.

Japan Day 18 (jū hachi)

Fireworks at Meiji-Jingū

Tonight we went to see the fireworks for the end of Oban at Jingū stadium. We saw the opening fireworks from our bedroom window that looked over towards Tokyo Bay. This time we couldn't see them from our apartment so we ventured forth to check them out in person.

They are serious about their fireworks. Both shows had between 10,000 and 12,000 fireworks. They both lasted about 1.5 hours. That's 1.5 hours of solid fireworks. That blows away any 4th of July I've been to in the States.

I took some stills, but my little camera doesn't do them justice. I took some movies too.



We left a couple minutes early because there were probably thousands of people there, and they all would be heading for the same subway that we wanted to take. It was a big deal for everyone. Lots of men and women were dressed in yukatas, even with the heat. We even saw one lady passed out from the heat. Oh yeah, it was still hot and humid. Not much relief even at night.

Afterwards we headed over to the Hard Rock Cafe for a real cheeseburger, and to get a Hard Rock Tokyo shirt.

Japan Day 17 (jū shichi)

Akihabara in Depth

Because our first trip to Akiba was so short and we really didn't see anything, we decided to go back and check it out again.


If only I would have had access to this place when I was 10! Heck, It's pretty freakin cool 26 years later too :)


If Darth Vader had ruled feudal Japan....


The bottom floor of this building had a big area full of figurines. The Japanese love their figures. They love naughty ones too...
Not Safe for Work Pic 1
Oops, they don't want you taking pics like this:
Not Safe for Work Pic 2
This piece of artwork was in the stairwell going down into the Asobit basement. Pretty representative of what was down there :)
Not Safe for Work Pic 3

The Tamiya store was next door and had these sweet R/C tanks:


Next was the Asobit store. The entire first floor was Gundam toys. I had a vague sense that it was popular, but now having seen it in person, I can say that it is HUGE here. Any store that has any toys at all has a big Gundam section.

Here is the giant Space Battleship Yamato that I am currently lusting after. Do I really need a giant Yamato with remote controlled swiveling cannons with 'authentic' cannon firing sounds, and a light up Wave Motion gun? Nooo.....but.....


There was a floor dedicated to model trains. Here's a nice Shinkansen, or Bullet Train as we call them. Below them are models of the subway trains. A different color for each line. The orange is the Ginza Line I think. In true Japanese fashion, the stripe on the side of the real subway actually corresponds to the color of the line route on the subway maps.


This floor looks promising.....


Whoa...umm...yeah...


Is this some right-wing, militaristic recruiting den we've stumbled upon? Nope, just an Airsoft shop that errs a smidge to the right of Politically Incorrect.


I want this one. Think it will fit in my carry-on luggage?


Oh no, Debbie has discovered the Gachapons. We'll be here forever.


As we walked down the street we noticed many shirts in Engrish, like this one that says, "My smile will become mysterious chuckle"


We ducked inside this arcade to get some air conditioning. The bottom floor had those games where you move the claw to grab some goodies. The rest of them had all sorts of video games.


The arcade had more of a Vegas feel than the arcades I remember. People were smoking while sitting playing elaborate RPG type games, street fighter type games, and various guitar hero type games. Only the first and second floors had any girls on them, the rest, more Vegas-ey floors were all guys. I took a video of some girls playing a drumming game, but then got the ever popular 'crossed arms' meaning no photos!



It's Mister Donut!


and Mos Burger!


Another odd shirt. This one says "Delight, Secret Service, funny heard cleverness"


Maids are pretty popular in Akiba right now. They have Maid cafes where girls dressed up as maids will serve you in a very subservient way. They even have Maid massage parlors.



There is even a maid-Optometrist if you need glasses!


Here's a maid handing out flyers.


Don Quijote has invaded Akiba now, too.


Off the main street we found this electronics store that had a floor devoted to robots. They had every part you might need to construct your own robot.



Under the train tracks:



At the end of the day we headed back to the first store we visited to buy all the stuff we noticed the first time around. These 'Rovoltech' figures are pretty popular. They have figures from a bunch of different shows. I picked up a Giant Robo one.


On the way out we saw this girl creating a big stir. TV cameras were filming her and everyone was snapping pictures, so I figured I would too.