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Today was mainly a travel day. We were allowed to sleep in at Kosuke's because there wasn't a list of things to do. We had a delicious breakfast prepared by his mum and then watched some T.V. before leaving.
We were watching a telecast of some school's production. There were lots of short songs and dances performed by the children, who ranged in age from about 1 year old to maybe 10. Most of the songs were about some cultural aspect of Japan, but others were about other countries or something different. It was funny watching the littlest kids, who just didn't understand what was going on. There were lots of tears, and towels thrown in, and one little girl fell off the stage. They had lots of helping people to point the kids in the right direction. Some songs featured 4-year-old girls in skimpy tops and tiny skirts doing dance moves from the Cutie Honey movie. I felt weird watching it, but I guess it's not a sensitive issue here. They were cute.
Kosuke's mum Keiko made us special Chyampon Ramen (chyampon is Nagasaki dialect for "everything mixed together"). It usually has one million prawns and squids and octopus, but it's special because it was made of chicken stock for me. It was delicious, but huge and an early lunch.
They took us to the train and even paid for the cheapest ticket so they could come through the gate and wait for us to leave. Kosuke's family is really lovely! I think they enjoyed having us too.
The first train from Isahaya station to Hakata was so lovely! It had a wooden floor and art in the toilets. Kyushu has the nicest scenery of all of Japan, I think. I HAVE SEEN ALL OF JAPAN.
From Hakata we took the Hikari shinkansen to Hiroshima. It was a short walk to our hotel (it said 3 minutes on the website, but more like ten. They always lie), which is a youth hostel. We have a private room with an ensuite though. Charles says that the website said it was a converted business hotel.
We lazed around for a couple of hours, and then went out to get dinner. We stopped at a close Yakiniku restaurant. It seems like their speciality was offal, but I didn't want offal, so we had regular beef and vegetables. They gave us a FIRE POT with a grill over it, and vegetables and slices of raw marinated meat. We cooked it ourselves on the grill and it was DELICIOUS! The vegetables were a bit weird, I think maybe we did them wrong. Then we got bits of chicken, which were also delicious, and then a bit of "cattle tail slices" which had bits of vertebrae in them which was weird. But DELICIOUS! I guess it's good that they're using the whole cow. We also ordered two types of ice-cream which was DELICIOUS. And I had a humongous beer! It was very light. The staff at this restaurant were really lovely and talked to us a bit.
Now we're at "home" already, and we're going to watch some Arashi program which is on tonight. We wouldn't have known, but Kosuke's mum knows I like Arashi and told me about it. Three posts in one night!
Showing posts with label japan2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label japan2010. Show all posts
Monday, January 25, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Day 2! 15/1/10
First full day in Japan! Today we did some things we have been lusting after all year!
For breakfast we went to a coffee shop which turned out to be called "Beanus".
I think it's a pun on Beans and Venus.
Also, Chrissy ended up with hot milk instead of coffee...
?
Today we decided to find Marui One Shinjuku, which is famous for all of its Gothic and Lolita shops. Unfortunately, all of the shops were for girls, so poor Charles was dragged along with nothing to look at for himself. He was very gentlemanly and let Chrissy look to her heart's content.
In Marui One Shinjuku, they have lots of brand shops: Metamorphose, Baby, Alice And The Pirates, Angelic Pretty, Emily Temple Cute, Excentrique, Moi-Meme-Moitie, Black Peace Now, H.Naoto, Atelier Boz, Jane Marple, Jesus Diamante, Kera Angel, Junie Moon (the Blythe doll shop), and lots of other little cute shops.
After a reasonably solid morning of Lolita shopping, we walked to Shinjuku station to have lunch, stopping only to visit another lolita shop, Innocent World. We ate lunch on the restaurant floor of Lumine, at a sort of upmarket donburi place. Charles had surprise shellfish in his miso soup! Christina was totally freaked out. Luckily her meal had no surprises, except for the surprisingly hot "mexi-rice".
After lunch we went to find another another lolita shop called "Closet Child" which sells second hand clothes. It was a bit depressing - hundreds of unloved BTSSB dresses, which Chrissy didn't like. Conclusion - people only sell awful lolita dresses.
We went home for a rest and then walked out to have a look for dinner. While looking for dinner we were only distracted twice, first by Muji where Chrissy bought a skirt and Charles bought some pens and then by Bic Camera where Charles bought a windscreen for his sound recorder (but he had to ask for it in Japanese first). Also lots of things in Muji were on sale, Chrissy's skirt was 70% off (!).
DINNER.
We finally found a place to eat after walking around for a long time. It was a very friendly place but we couldn't read the handwritten menu at all. The chef could speak english though, so we could order. We ate a fish, two smaller fish, a loaf of tofu and mystery beef soup. It was the nicest dinner in the world and we ate way too much.They gave us a strawberry each for dessert (^_^).
Finish!
For breakfast we went to a coffee shop which turned out to be called "Beanus".
I think it's a pun on Beans and Venus.
Also, Chrissy ended up with hot milk instead of coffee...
?
Today we decided to find Marui One Shinjuku, which is famous for all of its Gothic and Lolita shops. Unfortunately, all of the shops were for girls, so poor Charles was dragged along with nothing to look at for himself. He was very gentlemanly and let Chrissy look to her heart's content.
In Marui One Shinjuku, they have lots of brand shops: Metamorphose, Baby, Alice And The Pirates, Angelic Pretty, Emily Temple Cute, Excentrique, Moi-Meme-Moitie, Black Peace Now, H.Naoto, Atelier Boz, Jane Marple, Jesus Diamante, Kera Angel, Junie Moon (the Blythe doll shop), and lots of other little cute shops.
After a reasonably solid morning of Lolita shopping, we walked to Shinjuku station to have lunch, stopping only to visit another lolita shop, Innocent World. We ate lunch on the restaurant floor of Lumine, at a sort of upmarket donburi place. Charles had surprise shellfish in his miso soup! Christina was totally freaked out. Luckily her meal had no surprises, except for the surprisingly hot "mexi-rice".
After lunch we went to find another another lolita shop called "Closet Child" which sells second hand clothes. It was a bit depressing - hundreds of unloved BTSSB dresses, which Chrissy didn't like. Conclusion - people only sell awful lolita dresses.
We went home for a rest and then walked out to have a look for dinner. While looking for dinner we were only distracted twice, first by Muji where Chrissy bought a skirt and Charles bought some pens and then by Bic Camera where Charles bought a windscreen for his sound recorder (but he had to ask for it in Japanese first). Also lots of things in Muji were on sale, Chrissy's skirt was 70% off (!).
DINNER.
We finally found a place to eat after walking around for a long time. It was a very friendly place but we couldn't read the handwritten menu at all. The chef could speak english though, so we could order. We ate a fish, two smaller fish, a loaf of tofu and mystery beef soup. It was the nicest dinner in the world and we ate way too much.They gave us a strawberry each for dessert (^_^).
Finish!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
First Post! The post that hurts the most!
January 14th 2010
Today some boring stuff happened, then some good stuff happened:
5:30am - Arose from our slumber at the Sydney Formule 1 hotel near the airport.
6:25am - Took shuttle bus to Sydney International Airport
9:30am - JAL plane left Sydney with us on it.
The flight was actually really fun! I was a bit worried because I have a strange ear at the moment, but it didn't hurt at all and the staff were lovely and it was smooth. We were upgraded to Premium Economy! There was a huge school group in Economy so they bumped us up.
We took the Narita Express to Shinjuku. It took about 1.5 hours. On the way, we met another couple who were staying at our hotel, so we decided to go together. From Shinjuku station we had to take the Maruionchi line two stops down to another station in Shinjuku. We walked SO FAR and carried our cases up and down lots of stairs. Tiring! It was cold too, but I found that really nice after 39 degrees at home.
Our hotel room is super tiny, but sweet and pretty. We went out to dinner with our new-found friends at a don restaurant around the corner. They are from America, and the time difference meant that it was 7am at their home when we were eating dinner. A strange breakfast. Charles had Katsu-don, and I had a grilled fish dish with lots of side dishes. I ate so much. The guy serving us was really nice and tried to talk to us in English. I told him that he was skilled at speaking English (in Japanese). He denied it, and told me that I was the skilled one. Then I told him his food was delicious. Win!
We bought some chocolates at AM/PM convenience store - "Melty Kiss". We're both super tired but so happy! We remember why we like Japan now! It's fun!
Today some boring stuff happened, then some good stuff happened:
5:30am - Arose from our slumber at the Sydney Formule 1 hotel near the airport.
6:25am - Took shuttle bus to Sydney International Airport
9:30am - JAL plane left Sydney with us on it.
The flight was actually really fun! I was a bit worried because I have a strange ear at the moment, but it didn't hurt at all and the staff were lovely and it was smooth. We were upgraded to Premium Economy! There was a huge school group in Economy so they bumped us up.
We took the Narita Express to Shinjuku. It took about 1.5 hours. On the way, we met another couple who were staying at our hotel, so we decided to go together. From Shinjuku station we had to take the Maruionchi line two stops down to another station in Shinjuku. We walked SO FAR and carried our cases up and down lots of stairs. Tiring! It was cold too, but I found that really nice after 39 degrees at home.
Our hotel room is super tiny, but sweet and pretty. We went out to dinner with our new-found friends at a don restaurant around the corner. They are from America, and the time difference meant that it was 7am at their home when we were eating dinner. A strange breakfast. Charles had Katsu-don, and I had a grilled fish dish with lots of side dishes. I ate so much. The guy serving us was really nice and tried to talk to us in English. I told him that he was skilled at speaking English (in Japanese). He denied it, and told me that I was the skilled one. Then I told him his food was delicious. Win!
We bought some chocolates at AM/PM convenience store - "Melty Kiss". We're both super tired but so happy! We remember why we like Japan now! It's fun!
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