6th October 2011
We had Maggie Beer's pheasant pate with sesame wafers at the boarding gate while waiting for our flight. The flight from Melbourne to Cairns was smooth and without a hitch. However, the connecting flight from Cairns to Osaka was delayed for more than 2 hours. The airplane was meant to depart at 12:20, instead it wasn't until 16:00 did it take off. Official reason was not given. Other than tweets online saying something had occurred at Sydney airport with Qantas airline. Suspicious. Luckily, I was smart to ring up my hotel to say I will be super late. How late exactly? To honest I really don't know the ETA. *cross my fingers* I don't lose my accommodation due to a delayed flight. Ridden with anxiety. I feared that we may not be able to catch a train into Osaka city, before the last train had long gone. Jetstar offered us free business class meals and unlimited access to entertainment. The fear chews away at me. I couldn't sit still or take a nap. Oddly, enough my sister convinced me to watch several movies: Zoo Keeper, Bad teacher, and Green lantern. The jitters remained. I frequently kept checking our flight path information. [Note: intentionally skipped the minor details and bleep bleep thoughts]. We made it to our hotel at 1am in the morning. Omg. I was so angry. Yet I was too tired and exhausted to noted down, how I survived it all. We placed everything on the floor and nodded off. *Snores*
7th October 2011
The Shinkansen Sakura no. 543 was beautiful. The beautiful wooden panels won me over. The complimentary peridot green seats was lovely. I feel at home. The disable toilet had super wide doors and buttons low enough for a child. How fancy of them to cater for patrons with disabilities or families with young children. Somehow I feel Japan is indeed adapting and improving many basic facilities for it citizens.
Nagasaki is a huge city! Multiple information centres. One of them had a waiting space area and coffee shop. Talk about combo. Manage to score a day pass for unlimited hopping on/off Nagasaki street car (aka trams). First priority was Suwa Jinja. Gosh, was the entrance to the shrine was packed to hills. There were people above the stone stairs and across the street, and on the median strip. Sis and I was unsure what was all the commotion about, but we not going to defy the police officers who were there managing and directing the crowd at the time. In matter of 30mins, the official procession begun, priest, scholars, other people in traditional gowns came down the steep hill stairs. When several group of men holding the mini shrines came running down the stairs, people began to roar loudly and the drums would go off. Whoa! I never thought I would get the chance to see it for real. It was awesome. I even filmed it with my iPhone 4.
After crowd had disperse, Sis and I walked up the steep hill stairs; boy, did we feel old. By the time I got up to the top I was a bit out of breath. The view of city with a mountain back drop was beautiful. Snap, snap, snap myself some pics. Inside the shrine was many little buildings and gardens. Most of it was sealed off for scholar members only. To the west side there was a koi pond and resting area, south of this area was a mini zoo. Wow. Are they allowed to do that? I wondered. There were monkey, chickens, rabbits, and so on. Probably to boost tourism? Who knows why?
Kofukuji temple was a small temple consist of 6 buildings, it was housed amongst residential buildings. Old relics can be found on roof tops and one small garden. There was a viewing room to watch over a koi pond.
250km away from Kofukuji temple we finally found Sofukji temple but ran out of time to properly explore it. We had to catch our trains back to Osaka. The temple was between two tram stations. Shibashi and ...something something Yes, easily missed that's for sure. No Citi bank ATM and 7Eleven combini are not near Nagasaki JR train station. Catch tram route no. 1 to find two 7Eleven combini. Quite an inconvenience.
8th October 2011
Repeat and rinse. Back to Nagasaki. This time we are much more prepared, we decided pre-reserve our limited express and Shinkansen train seats upon arriving at JR Nagasaki station. Got ourselves a street car day pass. Before we can head to the tram's main stop, there was a lively performance at the train station foyer. Men together were lifting a boat up and spinning it to the beat of drums then carrying the boat onto the main road. Whoa. People around the place cheered loudly too. Indeed, fun to watch.
We headed to furtherest point today Glover Garden. There we saw two giant sky lifts and spiral stairs going up another steep hill. The first lift goes up 5 floor levels. The second lift goes up another 3 floor levels. So this is how people get up to their homes on a hill. Wicked. Oh, also there were heaps of cats lying around the stairs. Hee hee. I chase them all with glee.
The Glover garden had a special event today. Live classical opera. We listened to four songs sang by three lovely ladies (soprano) and a guy (tenor). Free hand held fans sponsored by Kirin beer. Nice to have a huge balcony to hide from the hot sun and listen to beautiful music. Downstairs was a large koi pond, where you can sit close by and feed the fishes. I decided to stroll down the hills to see the other cottages. I came across hire a costume cottage, which many girls than guys have taken up the opportunity. For 30mins it costs ¥500. They'd stroll to the main feature garden and have their photograph taken by a professional photographer for ¥500. The weather was so hot that we had coke cola ¥250 and custard pudding flavoured ice shaving ¥600. It was delicious and light. I came across a really small bird with brown and orange feathers sucking nectars from flowers. How adorable. Somehow I skipped the gift store, I think it was housed on a lower hill, and so I guess.
Dashed off to Peace Statue Park. Oh my, up on a hill too. After 3 flights of stairs later we managed to reached the park and it was beautiful. The statues were gifts from different countries. Funny thing was dog owner sneakily tried to allow their dogs to wee and poop around the park when it was forbidden to do so. Lol. I turned a blind eye, as the park patrol was not far away. The sun had set at 4pm and our last try back to Osaka was 6pm. Um, I might live a bit closer next time.
Things we did not get to try today:
• Atomic bomb peace museum;
• Mt Inasa ropeway;
• Nagasaki museum;
• and Coco walk ferris wheel.
9th October 2011
Green tea soba noodles and autumn limited edition dessert was the perfect brunch. Ahh. There is nothing like it. Chestnut does taste great with green tea jelly. *gobble, gobble* My favourite tea place, now has a book on how to enjoy green tea in various ways and what other unique crafts store nearby. Oh my, I so gotta come back soon. The tourist information centre this year has pearly and metallic postcards, which I have not seen before, so beautiful painted too. Snapped up 5 different ones. Hee hee.
Yodobabashi doesn't sell prepaid sim card. Oh well. We quickly went pass Apple shop. Many people left messages and flowers for Steve Jobs. We missed out on Midosuji parade due to my Oz sim card had ran out of credit. I had travel all the way back to the airport and rent a sim card from Softbank. After that was sorted, we visited Rinku Town premium outlet mall. Oh wow. Huge. Browsed around and found 100 yen store called Seira. We found handy coin, card, gadget holder by Le Sport Sac. Apparently, called Paula.
10th October 2011
Nunobiki herb park was beautiful as ever. They've upgraded the ropeway carriages. From being green and white, to red and black. They've coin memorial machine and cut out diagrams. We tried our hand at arts and craft by making a paper ropeway. Buffet lunch was pretty much western dishes affair. I do miss the Japanese dishes. Saw more humming birds and bees around the flower garden. Even a leaf insect. I had filmed sis patting one. The fragrance centre was fun to smell samples. Refreshing to see aroma therapy sessions. By the glass house cafe was herbal foot bath. They've so much activities for kids this autumn. Like butterfly catching, scavenger hunt, stamp program, wind turbine challenge and craft centre.
Suma temple was extravagant. several gardens and multiple viewing points. Due to it was 4pm, shop and resting room had closed already, so no omamori for us. Sis found the place to be boring and she spotted plenty of spiders.
Kobe port's Villaggio Italia was over the top looking and feels like Hard Rock cafe on water. Though fun to play around with props and pose with statues. No one could resist the upper deck. What a skyline. We saw words on the hill side. ¥1000 pp. Back to Mosaic garden and ride those electronic animals. This time we went on the carousel, posed on a 3D image stand, and took photos with the Halloween pumpkin stand. Kobe is always full of fun. You gotta throw away your inhibitions and enjoy the seasonal activities.
11th October 2011
*Yawns* 6:50am ride on Shinkansen to Okayama then transfer to Marine Liner headed to Takamatsu then transferred to a limited express line for Tokushima. We found the castle museum, only to see a sign saying public holiday. Ah! I've hit a public holiday again. The public holiday fall on Monday, so Tuesday ended up being their day off. Sigh. Beware of the kanji characters "祝日". The bus comes every two hours on public holiday and besides the puppet theatre was closed too. The dance hall was closed too, with exception of the tourist shop, Awa Dori Dance museum, and Bizan ropeway. The museum had videos of the performance you can expect from this prefecture in August or the dance hall itself. The Bizan ropeway was old, as if it was from the 70s. Groovy colours. We came across a giant kaleidoscope. Hee hee. Oddly enough, the malls and shopping centres at the train station were open. On the trains back to Okayama the sunset was beautiful. The sky was light blue and clouds were misty grey surrounding glowing hot red sun. It looked every bit like the national flag of Japan. Tokyu Hands has stapless stapler. W00t.
12th October 2011
After a light rain this morning a cool breeze came through but by 9am the sun rays were burning hot again. For 25 degrees it felt like 30 degrees. To truly enjoy Nagasaki and Naruto is to best reside at Hakata and Okayama. Then you will have more time to explore nearby towns. The spring is said to be viewing whirlpool. The hell with that! I do as I please. Low tide was 12:20pm. Hurray! I saw mini whirlpools. Wow. Magical alright. The ride on the upper deck of the ship was glorious, as Sis and I had it all to ourselves. Scariest bit was when the ship tilted to the left. I tightly held onto the rail for dear life. Wild. Once at Naruto park, we went seeking the bridge memorial museum "uzunomichi", it was definitely tucked away. Finally we have found it. Breath taking and smart use of the bridge.
13th October 2011
8am at Oboke. Located amound misty mountains. The view from the train was pretty. No bus until 12 noon. Oboke was a complete waste of time. We got out of HQ @6:50am and took 3hrs to get there, the bus comes every 2hrs, the train back to Okayama comes every 1hr. By 2pm we have lost half a day just waiting and waiting around. Sigh. If we were to catch taxi the fee is ¥3,190 one way. The rain begun to pour as we trek up the 9km hill to the vine bridge. The road and trees were filled with spiders. Disappointing in the end. The hill got more slippery and steeper. We came across a few road kills: a snake and a crab. Playgrounds were empty and covered by over grown grass. Felt like a ghost town. The train comes every two hours. Platform 3 no longer in operation and it is the only one with shelter from the rain. To mitigate the waste of a day, We decidedly to take a leap of faith and travel to Matsuyama. Arrived at 5pm. Attractions and shops were closed. Missed out on the open chair lift to the castle. Street cars were easy to follow and use. We saw the orange moon. Might have to come back to fully check it out.
14th October 2011
Ueno park is cleaner than Oboke. lol. Forest versus park really. Ah. The entrance to the Western Art Museum is always inspiring and busy. I love the Tokyo National Gallery's seamless rotunda that connects the two buildings. Nice seats and nice views of the lush green garden. Ikeburo is equally as busy as Shinjuku. Qpot display was disappointing. In Shibuya, we wanted to take a short cut from one main road to another, only to find we wondered into a red light district. lol. S & M hotels. Yet unable to find the Spanish lane.
15th October 2011
So humid! Raining too. Ugh. Wondering around Asakusa looking for the lucky cat shrine. Imado jinja. We found it surrounded by residential apartments and two car parks. Tiny but cute. There were two life size cat statutes. Woo Hoo. Halted by two tourist bus which had unloaded a bunch of Chinese tourists. After we made our prayed, the rain stopped. Yay.
Proceeded to Mandarin Oriental Hotel for high tea. The service was immaculate. The food was delicious. The presentation was top notch. The dessert display case was pièce de résistance. Nobody can refuse it. Indeed we took heaps of photos with it. Chestnut is the flavour of autumn in Japan. My first time eating a monc blanc. I'm so enjoying this experience. For drinks I tried ice muscat tea, orange chocolate tea, Mandarin Oriental blend, and water.
Kyotokan shop in Tokyo had brochures on Kyoto and some souvenirs. Sis bought leather wrist strap, while I got a key ring leather strap. The seller branded our names on the leather goods for free. How skilled. What a lovely gift for ourselves.
Character street was a tiny section of an underground mall. Yaseu exit of Tokyo station, not far from Daimaru food department. There was no Hello Kitty toys. Ugh. This weather is too hot for a plastic rain coat. We found umbrellas from ¥315 at Smart Market (aka 3 coins). Great.
16th October 2011
To reach Hase best to catch Kehin-Tohu line to Ofuna and change to JR Yokosuku train line to Kamakura. Then take the enshino electrical railway. Convuluted? Yes. All train based? Yes. Ain't so bad. I think Japan needs to release bus routes online for international patron use. Train to Kamakura via JR Yokosuba line wasn't straight forward. In Shinagawa the platform was mixed with NEX train line bound for Narita Airport. Ugh. The JR Tokaido line was much more reasonable. We managed to get out to Kamakura by switching train line @Ofuna. Only to find out Keihn-Tohu line could've taken us straight to Ofuna without JR Yokosuba line. Dang!
Electric railway line to Hase has scenic route, which we didn't take but it was relatively simple to use. Suica card accepted. The Daibutsu (giant buddha) at Hase was huge and beautifully crafted. That day many tourist flocked to it too. Everyone took pictures and paid extra ¥50 to go inside the buddha statue. Omg. It was unbelievable experience. Dark and dingy stairway then to feel the inside was surreal. The shops nearby had hand made crafted items. Especially kokeshi dolls. I nabbed my favourite one. Awesome. Also there was a shop selling musical wind up box. Some made from China and some from Otaru. Drools.
We back at Ofuna to visit Kannon on a hill. A Half body one. It was so big, you can see it from the JR train station. The entrance to the hill was hidden behind shops and residential property, in a small lane way. To get up the hill, you had to overcome the steep slope. Hold onto the rails. 3 levels of stairs await you on top. Entry fee 300. We were able to walk inside this buddha statue. This one had a praying room and sitting area. Wow. We rode the train back to Tokyo. We found the Kappabashi street, cheap food at grocery store, and many vending machine restaurants. Too bad shops started to close as it was 5pm.
Shinjuku was busy as ever. Construction work still going on at Takashimaya Square.
17th October
Kappabashi street did have plastic foods and ramen noodle spoon that Sis wanted like forever. Roppongi's Tokyo Mid Town plaza is a little maze. Full of high end designer shops. We were trying to find the Ritz-Carlton hotel. I have a reservation for afternoon high tea. We found the entrance after guess work. Lunch was delicious. No view of Mount Fuji. The pollution clouds covered everything. Quite brown.
Meiji shrine had a big walk way and spacious temple design. Free entry. Lucky for us, we saw a Shinto wedding walk in process. Wow. Everyone filmed it. Some people even went up to the bride and groom to snap pics. How rude. There were security staff on hand and they would hush people aside.
The sun begun to go down. We travelled to Akihabara and browsed in Yodobashi-Akiba. Omg. The covers, accessories, and cables for iPhone was endless. I couldn't stay away. Then there was the bead store, it had a Burberry look a like bear made from beads. How cute!
18th October 2011
Poor Yokohama, no day pass, lack of unique buildings with the exception of apartments. Super long foot bridges. Quite the concrete jungle. The Yokohama station was mega huge but lacks bridges, a central point, and direct connection points to subway or buses. ATMs are housed in office buildings. The doll museum had interesting dolls but to find the subway to get to it was dismal. Cosmo 21 ferris wheel area was squishy and tiny walk ways. I can eat apple pie again but only at Mos Burger without breaking into hives. Yay!
We skipped many of the other tourist spots due to time wasted looking for the subway to get to the Doll Museum. Approx. 2 hours. Nothing was close to each other. The subway station was not in walking distance to many of the areas. A car is much more preferred choice out here.
19th October 2011
Shocked! That some hotels have open smoking policy in the lobby. It was 3:15pm when we reached Omitakashima station. Gosh. The walk path to Shirahige shrine was badly designed. Full of trucks running along the road of Lake Biwa. Disel fumes fills the air. Not appealing. 1 hour later we have found the tori in the lake adjacent to Shiraghige shrine. It was beautiful. If I had sandals, I'd have put my feet in the lake. The sun had set and so we head back to the train station which shuts at 8pm. No bus. No bike for hire. There is no more special rapid trains after 17:19 to Kyoto. Sheesh. Local train only.
20th October 2011
Checking out a temple far north of Arashiyama. To get there we took a tram to Randen Arashiyama station. Catch bus 62 or 72 to Otagi Nenbutsu-ji temple. There were hundreds of mini sculptures. Each one had a different face. Though I did find one holding a cat. So cute! Nothing like a fresh ice cold matcha. Yummy.
We travelled all the way to Gion to visit a temple housing a giant white buddha. 靈山觀音 was finally open and we took as much photographs as we can before a swarm of tourist comes bombarding the place. There were several huge tourist bus parked outside the temple. Buy two bottle of 100% green tea powered drink at Nan nen walk. Later in the evening I have changed to fresh socks and participated in tea ceremony.
"En" tea ceremony cafe was just a little past Chion Temple and Gion bus stop. We arrived 1hr early. Ended the night in Isetan staring at beautiful stationery.
21st October 2011
JR Temma station. Walked through the long mall. Stumbled on Temmnagu shrine. Dolls were used for story telling and it was very vivid display. In Tennoji, we accidentally walked to elderly people shopping section. I had black ink squid spaghetti for lunch. Namba Parks was 10 levels tall on top of a train station and a mall. More like a sky park, if you ask me. Pass by Apple store in Shinsaibashi for free wifi. Check out Isetan, Daimaru, and Luca at Osaka station. Thank god for EST,as they had old and new stock of Anna Sui stuff. W00t!
22nd October 2011
Kyoto the Jidai Matsuri parade was postponed to 23rd due to the rainy weather. By the way the weather news anchor said it will be rainy all week anyway. No change. Hanged around Heian Shrine. Heian Shrine was grand looking, from the entrance to water sprouts. We purchased a bottle of matcha, Kyoto station university dance club students did dance routines, while the sky turned dark grey and lightening started to appear in the sky. Quite complimentary. Sis rather watch ppl dance than have dinner @Uji. Sis was hoping to use ¥1,000 on a flannet shirt from Uniqlo she cannot fit in than to use on it on train ticket to Uji. Sigh. Bye bye Uji. You are replaced by Uniqlo.
23rd October 2011
Squeezing every minute out the last day in Japan. For starters we had brunch at Kani Doraku restaurant in Namba. Browse merchandise in Sanrio gallery. In Uniqlo, Sis found the shirt in her size. Sigh. Then off to visit Osaka botanic garden's big green house."Sakuya Konohana Kan" via Subway Nagahori-Tsurumi-Ryokuchi line. The station's wall was beautifully decorated with mosaic tiles. Forming image of a garden with tulip mascots. Whoo. Cute. The garden has various activities going on as well. Garden meet up stalls. Second hand market. Exhibition and sports hall. So many various plants and each room had different climate. One hot as a dessert, while another freezing cold, and one tropical balmy.
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lol. The Library (a red water swimming pool) in Thailand. See article on CNNGo goo.gl/bAHIQ
Saving for Eyetv netstream DTT [tuner w/ wifi], so that I can watch Freeview TV on my iPhone. Ha Ha.
I'm so lucky to score a Baker's dozen badge. #Foursquarepic.twitter.com/TFnx2EGi
Nice Ideas. I question the battery source tho' RT @mashable: Microsoft Sketches Its Vision for the Near Future [VIDEO]on.mash.to/tzO2Jf
Impressive! RT @TechCrunch: CMU Researchers Turn Any Surface Into A Touchscreen tcrn.ch/oLdMvk by @johnbiggs
In Japan during autumn I've received more insect bites than I normally do in Oz's autumn. Σ(￣。￣)ﾉ
Interesting tropical flowers. Very pretty. (@ 咲くやこの花官 Sakuya Konohana Kan) [pic]: 4sq.com/qY6O8H
☠ Jidri Matsuri 時代祭りhas been postponed from 22nd to 23rd October (the day I fly out to Oz). Dang! ☢ [pic]: 4sq.com/nJjkxi
A lovely place for time out from the city. (@ なんばパークス (Namba Parks) w/ 2 others) [pic]: 4sq.com/n54MyD
Yay! Black ink squid pasta. My all time fave. (@ 神戸 PASTA de PASTA ステーションプラザてんのうじ店 - パスタ・デ・パスタ -) [pic]:4sq.com/q74Jp6
Love the use of the dolls to tell a story at this shrine. Classic story telling style. (@ 大阪天満宮 w/ 2 others) [pic]: 4sq.com/q3UUvE
It's open! Yay! Twice I've been at the door & it was closed. (@ 霊山観音) [pic]: 4sq.com/qLDZfS
Finally after a long trek, we are here at this tori in Lake Biwa (@ 白髭神社) [pic]: 4sq.com/qNfIuh
♛Completed Lara Croft and the Guardian of light [iPhone game]. There many challenging moments but I've mged to pull through. Woot! \(//∇//)\
Best bento box are served here by the Shinkansen entrance. (@ 東京駅八重洲中央南口) [pic]: 4sq.com/nGw3Ju
(original) Traditional kokeshi dolls are housed here. Interesting. (@ 横浜人形の家) [pic]: 4sq.com/pzEoGJ
Delicious. I had ramen from Kumamoto. Yay! (@ 新横浜ラーメン博物館 (Ramen Museum)) [pic]: 4sq.com/nqLg2H
Grand shrine indeed. I'm lucky. We saw a Shinto traditional wedding (walk) in full gear. Precious moments. [pic]: 4sq.com/pGPrpl
Half body only. Still magnificent. (@ 大船観音寺 Ofuna Kannon-Ji Temple) [pic]: 4sq.com/ouSvNu
omg! orz. (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o))) (@ "Daibutsu", Great Buddha statue, Kamakura) [pic]: 4sq.com/pLhXdI
Character Street. 1st ave. Past Daimaru food dept. Level B1. (@ リラックマストア 東京駅店) [pic]: 4sq.com/rp9Ew7
Lucky cat shrine. Unfortunately it is raining today. Meow! (@ 今戸神社) [pic]: 4sq.com/pFGwFc
Oboke vine bridge is not worth 3hrs train trip and 9km walk up a steep hill. Taxi ride costs ¥3,190. So no. I leave this place empty handed.
Public holiday today. Awa Dori dance hall closed and many other tourist spots. Aww. Thx for rope way [ride]. [pic]: 4sq.com/ns2QFj
I'm at ハーブ園山麓駅 (北野町1-4-3, 神戸布引ロープウェイ, 神戸市中央区) w/ 2 others [pic]: 4sq.com/riA2GU
Rented: Softbank sim card. ¥40k deposit. ¥105 p/day. ¥1,500 data cap p/day. Excess ¥0.32 p/128 byte. #KansaiAirport
I'm at Starbucks Coffee りんくうプレミアム・アウトレット店 (りんくう往来南3‐28, りんくうプレミアム・アウトレット 1F, 泉佐野市) 4sq.com/rdpejE
Yay! For Softbank for iPhone 4. *whew* Rinku Town is huge! (@ りんくうプレジャータウン シークル) [pic]: 4sq.com/rm8XWh
Thx god for Apple. (@ アップルストア 心斎橋 (Apple Store, Shinsaibashi) w/ 5 others) 4sq.com/q0dKvS
Get your sweet chestnuts! Autumn in Japan, chestnut & maple leaves are the symbol of the season. Just ate a chestnut flv'd waffle.♨
What a day. Hakata JR station is mega huge and well labelled transfer station. Sick. (@ 博多駅 (Hakata Sta.)) [pic]:4sq.com/pEk8q2
I don't like to be ridden with anxiety on any transportation. Let alone on the airplane.
Thanks for the many products. Wonderful childhood tech memories and devices that simplified my adult life. #RIPSteveJobs
Liver pates are gr8 for byo flights. Whether u spread 'em on crackers or bread. It just works. Minus the relish.
I don't mind iPhone 4S, it fits snug in my Mophie juice pack air. Mophie lives another 6 mths.
iPhone 4S is gr8 for those looking to upgrade from 3G/S. For those who've iPhone 4 it is so so. Yet iOS 5 looks splish. ☆〜（ゝ。∂）
(ﾟOﾟ) I'm surprised MYER actually uploaded a video with me taking a photo of my sis w/ Kris Smith. youtube.com/watch?v=JECIsK…
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