My Japan Trip

Day 2

went to joyfull, mini-steak+chips, with chopsticks

On way to Kashima passed lots of black vans with japanese flag on side, playing martial type music. We didn't wave at them.

Kashima, fox statues, tori gates, water tank at the top

old shrine next to it, bull statues, river, stepping stones

Yakitori, nice, nearly fish on a stick (confused with chicken on a stick). Just about managed to order beer...

Day 3

First Bento, walk, onions, school girls, shrine by river

Okonomiyake with Yoko. Beer bottle, small glass. GL (good liquor) Booze.

Day 4

Taxi to station (auto doors!), train to Kumamoto (very busy), got rail passes. Got train to Aso (very, very busy), everything runs to time. Nice platform, places to queue. Queue forms properly, but when train door opens it becomes free-for-all (especially little old ladies).

Got to Aso (volcanic area), got a taxi up to the hostel, greeted by very enthusiastic old lady who thought we were clearly mad to not get the bus to the top straight away, when we wanted to go and get some food. We went back to the bottom, got a bento box then say and waited for the next bus, by a sign saying bus stop. After a bit Emma went for a walk and discovered that it wasn't the bus stop, and we'd just missed the next bus.

walked up to the camp site (bit of a hill) and caught the following bus. Got to the museum, discovered another fun Japanese thing: most places have an ink block and stamp so that you can stamp a leaflet to show you've been there. Nice.

Getting late, so ambled around for a bit, a little light drizzle. Plus you could hear music everywhere being played from the museum. The Japanese like their music.

Got back to the hostel and spent a while sorting out the bunk, then headed into town to get food (tonkatsu set meal, ok). Got back to hostel and went to bed. Hadn't eaten the bento.

Day 5

climbing. Got down to aso, bought little sugar birds. No buses to aso san higashiguchi, got bus up to nishiguchi. Got cable car to top (saw 3 people cleaning one floor). Windy and cloudy. Walked around crater. Had some of the bento. Debated walking up into the cloud. Saw people coming down, decided to go with it anyway. Got to Nakadake. Passed lots of people wearing waterproof overalls with matching bags. Walked on round to KakoHigashi, occasional sandstorms and drizzle. Too windy for cable car, so walked down, listening to the twanging lines. Good for laser pistol sound effects. Walked on to Miyaji station, saw a steam train going past, got to station, finally ate bento. Got train to Aso, walked to hostel, cleaned up, met up with a French girl, went for food (katsu curry, beat traffic on the way down). Took beer and snacks (octopus, squid, that sort of thing) back to hostel. Drank and chatted, and all was good.

Day 6

kagoshima. Woke up to Mr Plastic Bag man (from 6ish an hour of rustling). Got train to kagoshima (first experience of shinkansen, and it was good). Played peep with children. Tried sake (ok), got picked up and taken to Ryokan (busy traffic again, golden week). Walked around (see pictures), ambled around shopping bit at night. Had japanese burger from ????????, had a menchi burger (?). Amusing adverts. Failed to get kitkat drink from vending machine (probably a can of bars rather than a drink). Discovered yukatas.

Day 7

aquarium. Rain and Cloud. And more black vans with loadspeakers. Got to sakurajima, couldn't use rail pass on tour bus, top cloudy, so walked along promanade (complete with someones random campsite along it). Had a look at the temple (furnace round the back, with lots of bottles next to it, nice). Back to kagoshima, went to aquarium, cool. Braved a vending machine for the tickets (success!). Saw a dolphin show, electric eel, and random 3d episode of galactic express 999. Lots of kids running and climbing everywhere. Had some sort of fried bread product filled with sweet bean mash (odd). Got back to Ryokan, picked where to go eat, couldn't find it. Weather cleared a little, so went to the harbour to get pictures of the top. Ended up going into BB13, odd place, I think we were a little out of place, but the only people in. Had a meal (pasta) and a few drinks. Went back to Ryokan with a few more beers (special shinkansen beer, nasty stuff).

Day 8

sakurajima. Up at 730, weather cleared, so off to sakurajima to do the tour (see pics). Got a free bit of rock, and some free oranges for being bumbling english (and buying stuff at a shop). Had hand shaken by an old Japanese man, who I think was saying how good it was that there was peace between Japan and America. Headed back to Kubota (2 confusions, one being that the shinkansen line to hakata doesn't actually go all the way to hakata, so an unexpected change. The second being getting off at Kubota and being called back by the driver who at some stops unexpectedly turns into the ticket conductor). Stir-fry was made and beer was drunk.

Day 9

fukuoka. Got there fine (this travelling lark is easy). Tried to find the temple set up by the bloke who introduced tea to Japan. Tricky due to tourist map (non-localised symbols on the map) and the sheer number. Eventually wandered into one, japanese woman started talking to us, so we chatted for a bit. A monk then came out to explain that this temple wasn't really open to the public, so we asked where the other temple was and he gave directions. Nice people. Found the temple.

Then decided to get to the castle remains, and used the underground to get there. During the journey I uttered the words "I think we're getting the hang of this travelling malarkey", or words to that effect. Got to our station and my ticket has vanished. Now, some might say I lost it, I think the ticket actually ceased to be when I suggested travelling was easy. From that point on we were both careful not to suggest things were going too well.

Saw castle and bit of garden (not much castle to see, but a reasonable view of the city). Got food and walked up to a park (fantastic park, many levels, hills, twisty turny stuff). Got to the top, ate, picked up some rubbish laying about and put rubbish in bin. Then watched a crow come along and pull everything back out of the bin. Clever birds them. Walked toward the tower, but got slightly lost and had to get back. Got back, ate noodles and drank beer.

Day 10

school trip. Got up, got to school, bumped into small cheery music teacher. Lots of bowing between teachers and pupils, lots of them getting talked at. Went to house-on-stilt-place. On the journey got asked questions by pupils (including the fantastic 'do you like cheese?'). For some reason, mentioning that I played piano got a round of applause. Odd. Anyway, got to place, made amulet by scraping one rock on another rock (bemoaning the lack of a spinning grindstone) and nearly made fire (had embers, but couldn't get them to catch). Only half an hour or so to actually look around. Went to recycling centre. Lots of polystyrene. Got back. Finally fixed Emma's computer from being crashed by Sasser (rant: stupid proprietary diallers that don't use the normal xp interface and don't expose the firewall). Saw fireflies, had good food (grill own meat, including intestine and heart. Heart meat is good). Got some beer, drank beer.

Day 11

nagasaki. got train to nagasaki. saw kannon temple (large pendulum, cool drain pipes, played drum and bell). Saw site of 26 martyred catholics. Popped into a shopping center to avoid rain, nearly bought Lupin 3rd manga, wandered through the alleys of chinatown (fun), saw spectacles bridge, had food (Yoshito, good, tonkatsu, but with lots of other stuff, including a custard soup thing). Nearly didn't spot the numbers, but were there in kanji. Got more beer to drink in Ryokan.

Day 12

hypocentre

bread products for lunch, bento in the evening

Day 13

kyoto, Pig and Whistle for fish n chips

Day 14

tokyo, beer museum for beer and nuts, bento in the evening

Day 15

himeji, revolving sushi

Day 16

miyajima

Last Few Days

saga, drinks, hong kong