Otaku's paradise

Japan 2009

2009-04-04T18:45:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated this Japan blog in a long time. I have a lot more photos and stories to share as I just came back again from Japan, again in March, but in 2009. The Cherry blossoms were out earlier this season and I took a lot of photos. I will be adding a lot more photos soon.

more updates

2008-06-22T18:09:00.001-07:00

pictures of Tokyo Tower at night, Ueno park during the springtime Sakura cherry blossom season, Kyoto Maiko advertisment i saw at the Shinkansen Shinjuku station, Kyoto tower near the station, Pachinko parlour, a large temple in Kyoto, and Kobe tower and harbor in Kobe, Japan.

Japan trip Spring 2008

2008-04-12T23:28:00.000-07:00

Another wonderful trip back to Japan and this time it is just after 8 months since going back in July, that i go again in mid-March along with my good friend and co-worker Miguel. It was his first trip overseas and first time in Japan. Fortunately for us, i have been to Tokyo enough to get around ok, and even know the crazy train routes, destinations, areas, and some of the language to get by ok.

We got our Japan airlines flight#61 out of LAX going to Narita, Japan at 1:45pm, and arrived in Narita, Japan at 5:12pm(1:12am LA time). As usual, i stayed up the entire time, and it makes the adjustment much easier, as it is easy going to Asia, versus coming back when jet-lag hits more. After customs, we caught our limo-bus(just a greyhound type bus, nothing really special) to our hotel in Shinagawa Prince. I highly recommend staying while in Tokyo, at the Shinagawa Prince hotel in Shinagawa. The rates are reasonable, and the hotel is large, nice and right across the street from Shinagawa station, easy assess to the JR-Yamanote line in Tokyo, Shinkansen bullet trains to Kyoto and elsewhere in Japan, and other JR/Subway trains. We finally arrived at the hotel around 8:30pm, checked it, unloaded our baggage in the room, and then went out to grab a quick dinner at the local ramen(noodle and some rice) shop nearby. I had Japanese soba-buckwheat noodle, rice-ball(onigiri with dried fish), and curry and rice for 690 yen. At this one place, you obtain a ticket from the machine after putting your yen-coins in the machine, hand over the ticket to the cook, and soon after he brings you a tray of what you ordered. The water you serve from a cup, as cold water and ice come out at once from the machine. A cheap, fast, convenient way to have a meal, and i ate here again a week later, having the soba, and rice for dinner that day. We then after got some snacks at the local grocery store, some tasty snacks, and drink to bring back to the hotel settling in Tokyo. They close around 10pm so we got there just before 9:30pm and bought even some strawberries for 610yen, but some of the best ever that i have ever tried, some green tea haagen daus icecream which they do not have here in the states, and some ricecrackers-peanuts, and drinks.

more Kyoto July 13th part 2

2007-10-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

I added some more photos of the afternoon tour. Some shops along the way, up the hillside to the Kyomizu Temple in Kyoto. It was raining a lot, and we had our umbrellas out most of the time while walking around taking in the sights and taking a lot of photos. The little shops had a lot of little souvenirs, anything from cell phone straps, to postcards, to keychains, to various teas, snacks, and other foods and items.

July 13th, more Kyoto

2007-10-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

The JTB tour came by to pick us up by shuttle bus promptly at 8am from the hotel. It was a full day that started the morning portion of the tour. We first headed to the Golden Pavillion, which was my favorite part of the tour. This was my second time in Kyoto and second time seeing the Golden Pavillion, but last time was self-guided. I only posted up photos first of the Heian Shrine, and then the Golden Pavillion. Notice in one of the pictures i posted up, of sake barrels. I didn't provide photos of the other part of the tour, but i will include more photos later. The next part of the morning tours were of Nijo Castle(my second time here as well), and of the Imperial Palace. The afternoon tour continued after a lunch provided by JTB, it was a lunch buffet of Japanese food, and it was good. The afternoon tour, and i have one photo showing the orange building structure of part of the Heian Shrine. The following temple was of San Juu Sen Temple, and followed by the breathtaking views of Kyomizu Temple. I will be provided those later. After the tour ended, we headed straight to Gion Districe, and finally found the Gion Corner and saw an hour good show performance of Maiko Dancing as well as other types of performers. We then ate in downtown Kyoto-Gion District and had Italian food, quite good and quite unusual. Earlier as we were walking to find the Gion District theater, i actually saw a real Maiko walking with her umbrella in the wet rainy streets of the Gion District, quite nostalgic, and very Kyoto! I didn't get a clear upclose picture, since it was from afar and she was walking very briskly even in her high platform geisha-like shoes, but meant for Maiko.

July 12, Kyoto, Nara

2007-09-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

Today, caught the Shinkansen-bullet train from Tokyo Station to Kyoto Station. We boarded the 9:50am tain and arrived in Kyoto around 12:26pm, in just over 2 1/2 hours one way. We were picked up as our tour group, JTB tours. Our tour guide lead us to New Miyako hotel for a lunch, as provided by JTB tours, the food was quite good. Then afterwards, the tour picked us up and some other people from various hotels to the Afternoon Nara tour. We saw the tame yet feisty deer at Nara park, which is about less than 40 minutes from Kyoto station. The deer are very calm, but if you feed them crackers, ( you can buy some for 100 yen to feed the deer), they will surround you in numbers, so be aware...lol

The weather conditions were not very optimal, as it was light winds with light rain most of th day. The tour to Nara was quite nice, as we visited a few big large temples and the Nara park which supposively holds the 2000 deer. Later we checked back in the hotel after the afternoon tour ended. The hotel we stayed at was about a 10 to 15 min taxi drive from the Kyoto Station, at the Miyako Westin Kyoto Hotel, which is a nice hotel.

July 11th, Hakone

2007-09-18T19:03:00.000-07:00

Today my parents and I got on the train, reserved seating on the "Romance Car". We reserved our tickets the previous day from the ticket booth, reserve/non-served seating for the Romance Car. It is a little extra, but in my opinion worth the extra money to spend for the "romance car" reserved seating. It is about $14 or dollars extra round trip per person, but you get a reserved seat, and it is 30 min faster each way. Hakone to Tokyo is about 1hr 30 min, probably close to two hours with the regular train. We left Shinjuku station around 9:30am and arrived in Hakone about 90 min later at 11am. We discovered the rainy weather all around, and how choppy the water was at Lake Ashi, where Mt Fuji lays ahead. But due to the cloud cover, seems to happy every time i visit Japan during the summer months, i could not view the magnificant mountain, that i can only imagine seeing. The boat on Lake Ashii which i have been on once 4 years prior, was currently closed due to the bad weather. The Ropeway was also closed down due to the weather. I have been on that one before as well. The scenery was very nice, and green, but it was quite rainy and a bit windy. We took the bus around Hakone area from the station. We grabbed lunch at a nearby restarant along the way, after we had gotten off from the bus. We had soba noodles with tempura for lunch. Later we caught another bus to get off to see the outdoor Picasso museum. This was my second visit to the outdoor museum. They gave out umbrellas to use at the museum, but not to keep. After we caught a tram to go up the hill, which was nice, great scenery all around. After we came back down, we were about ready to head back to civillization, to the big city of Tokyo. For what it is worth, Hakone which is about 90 minutes from Shinjuku Station, Tokyo, is a great get-a-way excursion type place to see more of the green lush country side of Japan. Mt Fuji is here, Lake Ashii, and plenty of outdoor onsens, and other outdoor nature type activities. It is away from the hussle and bussle of the big city of Japan. Personally, I think it is nice to visit and get away, as you see another side of Japan. I want to see Takayama, another countryside area outside of Nagoya area. But i prefer the big city environment of Tokyo, there is so much to see, do in Tokyo.

July 10th, 2007 Tokyo, Harajuku,Shibuya and more Akihabara.

2007-09-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

Today me and my family decided to see Hakone the next day on the 11th. So today, i went off on my own and went to visit the areas of Harajuku, Shibuya and more of Akihabara. A lot of walking, browsing and shopping mainly in Akihabara. From the top, i took a picture of a Shoko Nakagawa advertisement poster she is a well known singer on anime theme songs, and a professional cosplayer. I also took more photos of other billboards of Japanese popstars on advertisments. I just love their advertisments, whether they at trainstations or on highrise buildings in Tokyo. Also, is photos of Shibuya, Takeshita mainstreet, and Harajuku Station. Takeshita mainstreet is right across the street from Harajuku trainstation.

Also, note that there is a photo with me next to a huge poster advertising a new Japanese drama airing at the time in early July, called "First Kiss". The main star of the Japanese drama is actress Mao Inoue, showing her "puckered kissable lips". Other gaijin nearby(outside foreigner) took a photo of me, just after i took a photo of them infront of some similar advertisment. This was all taken at a big trainstation, i believe in Shinjuku trainstation, one of the largest train hub stations in all of Tokyo.

July 9th, 2007 more Tokyo

2007-09-05T23:36:00.000-07:00

Today my parents and i went on the Tokyo half-day tour. The shuttle bus came to pick us up around 8am and took us the the central tour bus stop area in Tokyo. We then left around 9am and went to Tokyo Tower, then to Imperial Palace, drove through Ginza, attending the Sensoji Asakusa Temple area, and ended at the pearl factory in Akasaka. I might note that we didn't spend a whole lot of time in each area, but the best tour if you want something fast and cover a lot of areas. To me it was ok, and i have seen the Asakusa Sensoji temple twice before, and this was my third visit. The front entrance of Sensoji temple leads through the Nakamise area, which has 90 different little souvenir shops, that sells anything from red bean pastry, little cellphone trinkets, keychains, paper lanterns, porcelin japanese dolls, and other souvenirs. I would say this is a must-see for any tourist coming to visit Japan. I do believe that Sensoji temple is the number one tourist attraction in Tokyo! After the tour, we went to Isetan, one of many big huge shopping malls throughout Tokyo and of Japan! In each mall, they have an underground or basement area where they will sell a lot of food, anything from pastries, fruit, fish, seafood, to sushi, and other foods you can think of. A term that i have heard that depicts these markets are "depachika", and the japanese know of this term well. The night time in Shinjuku is fantastic! and it reminds people from the movie, "Lost in Translation". My family and i finally chose a place in downtown Shinjuku at an Indian restarant. I would say the food was so delicious! Then i went to Kinokuniya to get buy some photobooks and look at other magazines. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel around 9:30pm.

July 8th, Sunday

2007-08-20T21:38:00.000-07:00

In the morning, i re-packed and i was going to transfer to a bigger room, since my parents were coming in from China on their 2 week stay there, and meeting me at the Akasaka Prince Hotel in Tokyo. I had my belongings, suitcase bags stored for the majority of the day at the bellhop suitcase storage area. I then headed out to Tokyo, Akihabara, and Nakano. I first too the Marunouchi subway line to Tokyo Station. Then from there i switched to the JR-Yamanote train line. By now, i figured out the maze, craze of the Tokyo train systems. And for the gaijin(foreigner) this can be the most frustrating experience to be lost, not know any kanji, and not know where to head, even if you do, how the heck to get there. For me, this is my third visit to Japan. I have seen and experienced this, but doesn't mean i am a pro by any means, just more experienced and familiar with the JR trains in Tokyo. First, knowing where you want to go, specifically, planning, mapping out the destinations in advance, relying a lot on the "romanji" train map, which is translated into writing that gaijin can spell out in words, not characters. Second, know which trains to switch to, and keep in mind how you got there and how to get back to your main central point, for example for me it was either Tokyo station, since it was a train hub of many other train connections, or your main station where your hotel is closeby to. That for me was Asakusa-Mitsuke train station, by subways. Ok onward, i then spent many hours in Akihabara as it is so big, and so much to see and shop for the Otaku. I mostly went to big stores like Tora Ano, which i highly recommend if you really want to see bigtime anime, for all your anime otaku enthusiasts! I also went to Yamagiwa, Don Quixote building, and other various buildings that contained anime. I first had lunch at Mailish Cafe, from 11-12pm. My favorite waitress who i first discovered on Youtube while searching for maidcafe's, is "Arisa". She is a waitress there and also a professional Cosplayer(costume player). Cosplay is very very popular in Akihabara and other parts of Japan. They take it very seriously, and look good doing it. My favorite waitress, Arisa was not working that particular day, and i was so disappointed but nonetheless, i enjoy my meal, ice coffee and my visit to Mailish. A small cafe that fits approximately 30 to 35 people mainly servicing the Japanese locals. I had to rely mostly on mly lmited Japanese language skills to communicate to the waitress. Fortunately the menu's had pictures and i could point and say, "kore o kudsai, onegaishimasu, arigatou ne". I bought a few souvenir pictures and a Arisa anime version small towel of her. I then took off and finally found an internet cafe a block down the street in Akihabara. I used it from 12:30-2pm. It costs about 300 yen per 30 min, which allows you to use email, internet, watch movies on the computer, listen to music, online chat, read japanese manga(comics) and all you can drink softdrinks, tea, and icecream. There was also some Japanese magazines read too. I chose the tatami room, a small tiny computer work space, with tatami mat and curtain for privacy. There was about maybe a dozen or so rooms, both tatami and regular types. Afterwards i headed out the main stores, Tora Ano, Yamisoft, and Don Q building to browse around and shop. Each floor has something within each category, most of which is anime related. One floor will have just anime-music CD's. The next floor will have OVA, i forgot the accronym for that, but that floor had OVA dvd-series of various anime. The following floor would have just regular anime mangas. The floor up would have various Anime accessories by series type. The accessories included cell phone straps, buttons, pins, towels, cups, mouse pads, pillow cases, plush anime dolls, pens, pencils, keychains, clocks, etc... the next floor would have anime figurines, more different accessories, and another floor would have CD-anime computer games and the top floor would be staff only.

The Yamagiwa Soft store has similar floors of the other building Tora Ano, but less anime. There was some floors that had just music, and foreign american music, another floor with regular movies-dvd's, and one floor devote to gravure idols dvd-s. This floor also had a section where they have gravure idol(model) signings, advertising their latest photobook/dvd new release. They have gravure idol weekly signings of various girls where the otakus can get a picture of their favorite idol and autograph. On weekends, they shut down the street, and had street performers, singing and modeling. Various girls performing in the streets posed for the video cameras and digicam's, hoping to become the next big Japanese idol. I took a video and picture this is kawaii Japanese girl.

The Don Quixote bldg, where i spent some time at, has many floors similar to Tora Ano and Yamagiwa Soft, but Don Q had other kinds of random items. I bought my belt, that i need since my jeans were lose, i had forgotten to pack up a belt for my trip, plus all that walking and eating healthier foods, i lost a few pounds. Anyhow, they had different random type items, toys, cosplay outfits, arcades, videogames, and a Maid Cafe on the 5th floor. I had lunch @HomeCafe on the 5th floor, got lunch and a ice coffee drink there, along with a photo with one of the maids. I ate Curry, and the maid waitress even did her signature, "heart-O" symbol and had me do the hand gestures as she said the japanese words....i felt that this was so .......MO-EEEEE!!!! (actually i had lunch at HomeCafe a few days before, but just recalling the time i had there, which was special, and memorable.) . Later on, i headed up to the AKB48 floor which was on the 8th floor. This was my second time here in the same week. I had only met Mariko, my favorite AKB girl a few days before. I came here this time just checking out the environment more of the floor all the framed portraits of each AKB girl, and some of the posters. Team K was having a live concert in the main hall Stage 1 area behind the double doors. I can hear the music blarring and thumbing from the bass of the speakers. Two flat panel TV screens were above showing the actual concert, but for some reason the clarity of the screen wasn't good, so i can barely make out which girls they were of, only that i can recognize they weren't the main girls, of team A, or K. There were other fans sitting around lounging at some of the table-chairs, and some where getting into it, dancing the moves of the girls, and jumping up and down. Earlier in the day, i noticed how big of a line there was of AKB fans, and since i didn't know Japanese, it was hard for me to figure out what was going on, and how i can get into it, but i didn't. They finally got in and bought their latest BLT magazie with AKB girls on the cover. Some had stacks of magazines, so lucky. I think some had AKB girl photos, but i could find any. I actually found a BLT laying on the sidewalk, which took and got lucky, but no photo inside. Then at 6:30pm i caught the train and transfered to another train to Nakano at Nakano Broadway mall. I went to a few stores there bought some posters and photos. I had dinner at this...you guess it, another maid cafe, this one was more of a local type one, small, a few nice girls that didn't speak a word of english, ok maybe a couple, but i had to use my limited japanese language skills to converse with them. I had spaghetti and ice coffee. Later i had a picture with one of the girls, and left. After i headed back to the Akasaka Prince hotel to meet up with my parents. It was a full fun day spent in Akiba and Nakano, Tokyo!

July 7th Nagoya

2007-08-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

July 7th, Nagoya.

Today I woke up a little bit later, around 7am.
I'm going to Nagoya today to visit my japanese pen pal.

I caught the shinkansen train from Tokyo train station. (Asakusa-Mitsuke subway to Tokyo Train Station, then to JR-Shinkansen Hikari train to Nagoya station.) Today i got the train bound for Nagoya station, at 10:45am, and i arrived in Nagoya around 12:26pm. I walked around the station, lots of little stores and food centers, and Softmap store, which carried cameras, computer stuff, DVD's, Anime stuff, and etc...... I bought a camera soft case for my digicam for only 800 yen. I finally met up with my pen pal at the Silver Clock around 1:30pm. She took me around the area, first walking around the station. It is all connected to the station, big malls! We then went to Nagoya castle, just 10 minutes from the station by car. It reminded me of other ones I have seen in Japan. It was 500 yen entry fee into the Nagoya Castle. Riding in her car was interesting, from the Japanese local's point of view. The driver side is on the oppoosite side, and also, cars drive on the opposite side of the road, which was very odd, interesting. There was some traffic, and a bit hectic with lack of space at times. Parking is limited, but somewhat available and expensive in Japan. I don't recall the actual prices, but it could cost 500 to 600 yen per 30 min in some places! We then walked around the Osu area in Nagoya, which was about 30 min drive from Nagoya castle, with all the traffic lights and streets. Osu kind of reminded me of Nishiki market area in Kyoto with all the long corridor ally ways. But in the Kyoto Nishiki market had all the food markets and other stores too, while Osu had various stores and some 100 yen shops, and crepe and Takoyaki booths/shops. Afterwards, we went to a Japanese izakaya, japanese bar/restarant. The ambience was nice, and the food was good, but expensive. The food bill came out to 8400 yen for the both of us. Later, we went to Nagoya station as I had to catch the Hikari Shinkansen #386 train at 8:58pm back to Tokyo. I arrived just before 11pm in Tokyo station, then took the subway from there back to Akasaka-Mitsuke station, where my hotel was at. I stopped in one of my favorite combini(convenience store) to pick up some rice balls, some snacks, and some drinks. Then I went back to my hotel room to turn in the for the evening.

July 6th, Akihabara, Tokyo part 2

2007-07-28T21:57:00.000-07:00

Around 5pm, I finally headed back to the Don Quoxote buildling, AKB 8th floor. I went up there to check it out, and see what the hype is about with this group of girls. I have seen video of this group and they can sure sing and dance. The Japanese man, who created this group of girls is a rich rich man, and a genius. Anyways, I finally reached the 8th floor, and browsed around. I bought some souvenirs. After finishing up on my purchases of AKB items, I noticed a small line forming on the other side of the floor infront of the double doors that lead to their concert theater hall. There was a long table with a small stack of Japanese books, apparently autographed by one of the AKB members. It was Mariko Shinoda!, one of my favorite AKB members. I went to the line quickly and bought a book, not knowing what it meant, since it was in Japanese writing, but she signed it. It was for 1260 yen. After buying it, I stood in line for less than 5 minutes. I finally stood face to face with a Japanese singer, who was part of the huge music Jpop group AKB48. She didn't speak any english, so i spoke to her briefly in my limited Japanese conversational skills. She shook my hand with both her hands what seemed like 2 minute. She smiled and said "sugoi" several times, which means "awesome", and she thanked me. It may not seem like a big deal to other people and americans, but for me it was an amazing experience meeting a japanese celebrity, known in parts of Japan, and Akihabara, but for me it was a pleasant happy experience. After meeting Mariko-sama, I headed out of Akihabara and went back to catch the train back to the hotel. By the time i got back it was almost 7:30pm. I dropped my stuff off in the hotel room, then headed back to the akasake mitsuke area to get something to eat for dinner. I got some soba noodles at this one place where you buy a meal ticket first from the vending machine. I got the ticket and gave it over to the man behind the counter, and i got my bowl of soba a minute later. A lot of salarymen and other locals eat here for lunch and dinner. It is a fast and convenient to get a meal. There are lots of ramen, other food places to eat, some convenience stores, hostess bars that cater mainly to the over-worked, fatigued salarymen of Japan. There are also a few pachinko gaming parlours, and other various stores. I then went to the "combini" convenience store, and got some snacks, milk tea, and some pastry for tomorrow's breakfast and went back up to the hotel room (#2234) to turn in for the evening. It was a fun filled down in Akihabara, as tomorrow i will visit my pen pal from Nagoya via Shinkansen train.

July 6th, Tokyo

2007-07-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

Today, I woke up around 3am. I think my sleep hours are off, and typically i wake up real early the first day while in Japan as i adjust to the time difference. I watched some Japanese TV, amused by the tv programs, commercials, and some news. I'm planning my day ahead and trying to map out my destinations. It is somewhat warm and humid outside, as expected. ....It is now about 5am as I write this and the sun started coming out as early as 4:30am, that's early eh?
Earlier, i went to the trainstation, about a 5 to 7 minute walk from the Grand Akasaka Prince Hotel. I took the Akasaka-Mitsuke subway line to Tokyo Station. The stations are big and have a "JR" station and a subway trains. There is a lot of walking and lots of stairs, no wonder the Japanese are so fit and in-shape. I then transferred to the JR trains to the Yamanote Line(green). I took it to the Shinjuku station. Little did i know, i could have more easily taken the Marunouchi subway line, which is direct from the Akasaka-Mitsuke station, and taken it a few train stops to the Shinjuku station, about 7 to 10 min. Each stop is about 2 min away from each other, and literally the stop time at each specific station is less than 30 secs, once in while it could be longer, depending if it is a major station, or the location. So, I then took the JR train to Shinjuku station. I got out and walked around for awhile. I was waiting for the Kinokuniya bookstore to open, which opens promptly at 10am. I bought some photobooks, and then i headed off by the JR-yamanote line to Shibuya, to walk around. I headed off to the Shibuya 109-2 bldg, which is accross the street from the station. I bought some Hello Project Official store, to buy some photos of the girls of Morning Musume(J-pop music group.) Afterwards I headed off to Akihabara via the JR-Yamanote line. It took about 30 minutes from Shinjuku to Akihabara. I walked around for awhile, and finally visited the AKB48(Don Quixote building). I first had lunch at a Maid-Cafe, my first one, and first time eating at one. The girls were really "kawaii"- cute for Japanese. I didn't have to wait long, i guess other days it gets really crowded. Finally one of the waitresses took me in and asked me all in Japanese where i basically wanted to eat, and for how many. I answered back to her in my limited Japanese. I ate curry, and after nearly an hour, of just sitting, eating, observing the scenery, and waiting, I was finally ready to pay for my lunch. Beforehand, i chose(an option), to have a picture with one of Maid-cafe waitress, for a pix for 500 yen. But first my lunch was iced coffee, about 500 yen, and curry for about 1000 yen. It was a cool experience, and for being a tourist, i felt for once like a true "Japanese Otaku" lol. Little did i know, that i was in the same bldg as AKB48, a Jpop girl group, consisting of 3 teams, A-K-B! of 16 girls on each team. After figuring out it was in the same building, i headed back in to the 8th floor. As there are no elevators, i took the escalators up and up to the 7th, and for some reason there was a sign on the leading up the 8th floor, and there was a time of 5pm, in Japanese, so i decided to come back around 5pm. I went back out and heading out to the other stores in nearby buildings. Akihabara is a big area consisting of Japan's well known high-tech electronics, but what some travel brochures and books forget to mention is that Akihabara is more and more becoming Anime-Otaku paradise, with blocks of everything Anime-otaku related. Probably atleast a few blocks of buildings devoted to everything related to anime, music, gravure idols, and everything else to the person that just loves to collect things. It is truly amazing what the Japanese people will go for, for the collector, in what is presented, and available, they are really amazing. It is because of Akihabara that anime conventions around the world, probably exists, this is the mecca of all things anime! Japan also has other anime-otaku based stores, in Kyoto, Ikebukuro, Nakano, and other areas. But Akihabara is the main place that has it! i went to other bldg's, including Toro no Ano, one of the main buildlings that has everything anime!, then Soft map, more of the same. Each building has about 7 to 8 floors, and each floor is distinct in what types of anime, stuff they sell on each floor, anything and everything, on anime. There is also stores that are devoted to the collector of anime figurines, robots, dolls, trading cards, anything you can almost imagine in the anime-otaku world. I found a few noodle shops, onigiri(rice ball), and crepe(deserts) places on the street.

LAX to Narita airport, July 4th - July 5th. Tokyo, Japan

2007-07-25T18:13:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, July 4th, 2007. I am going to Japan again, and this will be my third time. I got to the LAX airport early, atleast 4 hours before my departure time at 1:20pm. After waiting awhile, the plane finally was ready depart at around 1:40pm. I love JAL's service, and the flight attendant girls are so gorgeous! I didn't care to much for the movie selection, but the food was delicious, the flight time wasn't too long, as i flew before on JAL to Narita. I recommend if you fly JAL, to try their green tea, whether cold or hot, also try their version of a fruit softdrink, minus all that carbonation. The drink is called "Sky Time", and you can get it even here locally in LA, at Mitsuwa Market. I love this drink and i will always get it while flying JAL if and when i can get it. The flight time to Narita was 10 hours and 40 minutes, approximately. There was little turbulance, and as usual, i didn't sleep hardly any, maybe i rested for a short while. I arrived at Narita airport, local time in Japan at 4:20pm. After going thru customs, and getting my baggage, i headed off to redeem my 7 day JR-rail pass. I highly recommend that anyone traveling to Japan to look into the JR-rail passes, which come in 7, 14, and 21 day rail passes. It can only be bought in your home country, and once in Japan, redeemed for an actual JR-rail pass. I went to the basement level, which has various kiosks, sitdown places to eat ramen, cafe, JR-voucher pass ticket area, and regular ticket area as well as JR trains to and from Tokyo which connects to Terminal 2. Also, there was an area to rent "keitai" cellular phones. I rented out a vodafone from Softbank. I then caught a limo bus to the Akasaka Prince hotel in Akasaka. The bus left terminal 2 at 6:20pm and arrived at the hotel at 7:50pm. There was some traffic once in the downtown Tokyo area, and there were other hotel stops along the way, until reaching Akasaka Prince hotel. After checking in, and settling in my hotel room, i walked around the outside area. They had various ramen restarants, other types of food places, convenience stores, karaoke places, pachinko places, and more bars. I felt the area catered more to the "local Salarymen, and Office ladies, and other locals" more than the gaijin, but still, there were other foreigners like myself. I got a map of the area, and got more information from the hotel. About a five to seven minute walk to the Mitsuke subway trainstation which connected to other trains. I used the Marunouchi subway train line a lot, as it connected me to other Tokyo cities such as Ginza, Shinjuku, Harajuku, and Akihabara. One thing that i had to learn and understand as i got more use to their trains was that, Subways and JR-trains are two different train companies, and are independant of one another, but usually are together in one station, for example, Shinjuku station, Tokyo station, each will have a "JR-train" section, and another area for Subway stations. Just knowing your destination, and train route(it's colored, example, Green - Yamanote JR-train). If you know your destination, and route(colored), then you can figure out the fare amount. Subway trains don't accept your JR-pass, only JR-trains. So each time i took a subway train, which was often during this trip, i used "yen" to get my train ticket.

I walked around until around 9pm to find a place to eat for dinner. I finally found a ramen place to eat. It must've been the cute girl who was passing out "fan's" that advertised their restaurant. It was a chinese-Japanese ramen shop/restaurant, as i ordered the spicy and delicous ramen. I think the people that worked there were chinese but spoke in fluent japanese, i could tell by their slight chinese accent. It's good as i brushed up on my japanese conversational skills, since the waitress as other people in japan, seem to know very little if any english conversational skills. The ramen dinner, including a Yebisu beer that i got, totaled 1280 yen, just over $11, not bad for dinner. It is good to be back in Japan, as i recognize a lot of things from my previous trips to Japan. I love the vending machines, food, even the confusing train stations, I hope i don't get lost too much in this massive metropolitis. But i have to say there are so many hot japanese girls here in Tokyo, they know how to dress and look well! Afterwards, i headed to the convenience market down the street and bought some softdrink, milk tea, pastry and ruce balls for tomorrow's breakfast. I went back to the hotel room to watch some tv for awhile, and went to sleep just after 10pm, Japan time, after being up for 24 straight hours.

Japan July 2007

2007-07-25T17:56:00.001-07:00

My third and recent vacation visit to Japan, July 4-15th, 2007.

I took over 600 pictures, and i will post some in my Japan trip weblog.
The trip was pretty recently and still fresh in my mind as i just came back a few weeks ago from Japan. It was amazing, as i went to Tokyo, Hakone, and Kyoto again. Also my first visit to Nagoya as i visited one of my pen pals. Japan was amazing, even though it was cloudy about every day, and the rain fell quite a bit as it was Monsoon season, and even a typhoon was approaching Tokyo the last day we were there ready for departure.

I will start by filling in my Japan trip journals day by day, as i wrote them already during my actual vacation. I will try to add pictures along the way, not necessarily in order, but close to it.

I started out by including pictures of the Tokyo downtown area as my intro pictures for this trip. Tokyo is an amazing city with over 12 million people jam packed in. The train systems are elaborate efficient and a punctual way to get around, and probably the best way to get to where you need to go in Japan. There are trains practically everywhere and it is a web of routes and for the foreigner(gaijin), it can be quite intimidating.

more imperial palace, akiba

2006-03-16T18:22:00.000-08:00

some more of the Imperial Palace pictures and we walked around the palace in about an hour. There was some nice gardens, a small bamboo forest area, a koi pond and various building structures throughout the park. After Imperial Palace, we headed to Akihabara, or also known as Akiba. It took a few different trains to transfer to get to Akiba, and a little navigating looking at the map and getting lost a little bit, before we actually found the right area where the Otaku's go to shop for their anime goods. Not too far from the train station in Akiba, was the stores we were looking for, such as K-Books, Mandarake, Volks, and a few other places which was primarily in one building, but it took awhile to find it, as i am not that great with unknown areas. I think next time, i should be able to get around and find. The only thing we didn't get a chance to do, was visit some Manga cafe's, like Mailish Cafe, which will be for next trip, definitely.

Tokyo train station and Imperial palace

2006-02-12T17:09:00.000-08:00

A visit to the historic Imperial Palace minutes away and walking distance from the Tokyo Train Station. We visited the Imperial Palace and crossed the small bridge that led into the park. There was some walking and an english walking tour going on, from a hotel or some group, led by an english japanese speaking woman. We decided to proceed on, and spent nearly an hour at the park taking in the views and walking around.

Tokyo

2006-02-07T16:05:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a long long time, but i am going to continue the my trip to Japan and some pix. Here are some pictures of Tokyo, coming back from Kyoto. The remainder of the trip was spent in Tokyo. More photos of Shibuya, and other cities in Tokyo. We also visited Shibuya 109 bldg and the surrounding areas. Some of the j-girls were so cute there. People were everywhere, and consisted of Japanese Salarymen, Office ladies, school girls and boys, and other people. We visited practically all of the surrounding areas, we could cover in the short week we were in Tokyo area. Shibuya, "Hachiko" dog statue right nearby the trainstation in Shibuya is a landmark, and i visited it also during my first visit to Japan back in 2003, summertime. We headed to a huge bldg, Shibuya109, which has primarily young ladies apparel and some restarants on the upper floor. It felt like a nightclub there, since they had dance music blaring on speakers everywhere as they sold the latest young women's fashions. I took some photos of various Japanese girls, and one girl in particular was more than happy to have her photo taken in a clothing store in the bldg. I didn't get her name as she spoke japanese too me, but i did pick up on the word "souvenir". I should have taken a photo with her too...lol
and some more photos that i took while in Shibuya.
Some Advertisements, one of BOA billboard in Shibuya, and HMV store.

Kyoto and Tokyo

2005-11-24T10:00:00.000-08:00

Some pictures of a pachinko parlour that we visited. The Japanese enjoy a little gambling and it is through the Pachinko games. I tried it, and spent 1000 yen, which is about just over 8 dollars. I had no idea what i was doing, but it was fun and all these steel balls bouncing and lights and sounds. You just have to try it for yourself for the experience.
Later, we packed up and headed back to Tokyo for the rest of the trip, but first back at the kyoto trainstation to catch the super fast Shinkansen(bullet train), with speeds of over 160mph, we arrived back in Tokyo in just over 2 hours.
a few pix of the station, kiosk, and the train we rode on.
And some pictures of tokyo. Tokyo is huge as you can tell from some of the pictures. The highrise buildings, the big advertisments on the buildings and there is one picture that has a big huge tv screen on it. I took a picture infront of a pastry shop that sells delicious waffle pastries. I went here during my first time out in the summer of 2003 to Japan. This shop is in Ginza, maybe a few blocks down from the Sony building. I took a picture this time around, and had a chocolate covered waffle for about.....175 yen, maybe $1.65, it was so good.

even more kyoto, The Golden Pavillion, Nijo Castle, and Nishiki Market in downtown Kyoto.

2005-11-22T23:02:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in awhile, and this is looking back from my and joe's trip to Japan back in May '05. Here are some Tokyo pictures. I included pix that were first from Narita, where we landed at the airport, and stayed over night. Then we headed straight to Kyoto for a few nights, then off to Tokyo. We stayed in Tokyo for the majority of the rest of the trip.
These pix were from our visit still in Kyoto, at the entrance to the Golden Pavillion. Everywhere we can see school kids, where were the teachers?
I just thought that was interesting with the kids everywhere, on the bus, at the golden pavillion and elsewhere just by themselves mostly. Anyhow, to move on, we next visited the Nijo Castle, just a few pictures from Nijo castle. I really enjoyed walking around and inside the castle area. In the back area, was a nice garden. We then headed back into downtown Kyoto towards the Nishiki Market. There were a lot of different kinds of foods there, tempura, various kinds of yakitori, chicken/beef/pork/shrimp, Manju(Japanese mochi, a kind of pastry), Takoyaki(octopus), and other delicious fresh food. Then we walked around and i noticed a small eatery, which was very typical in Kyoto and other parts of Japan, probably a ramen shop. We didn't get a chance to eat at this particular one, but i wish they had more of this type of eateries in California. Also, a picture of a vending machine, this time a beer vending machine.

Lawson and other good stuff

2005-10-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

The good stuff of Japan. I really miss the convenience stores of Japan, all the Onigiri you can ever one and dream of, so fresh and so many varieties, and a way to get your fill and eat cheap while enjoying a healthy small meal/snack. Along with the delicious pastries and coffee/tea/other drinks available from Lawson or other convenience stores. Also, many other items in the store along with j-magazines, manga and j-idol magazines. Just gotta love it. A picture of me, some of the snacks we bought and ate, and the onigiri available. Also, a picture from the kyoto bus, while touring, a McDonalds from a distance. We passed by another Lawson on the way to the Golden Pavillion and Nijo Castle in Kyoto. My friend and i caught a bus, and tons of school kids of all ages were everywhere on school field trips, and i remember one bus we took, literally atleast 50 kids crammed inside the bus and i couldn't see my friend anymore, they were all in school uniform and so well behaved for being out of school on a field trip.

More of downtown Kyoto

2005-08-16T17:23:00.000-07:00

Some more views from the downtown Kyoto area, nearby the kyoto train station. We didn't get to go up kyoto tower or see it up close, but it reminded me of the Seattle space needle. Also, my friend and i stopped in here, while walking around the Kyoto area to get some lunch. I don't know the name of the place, since i cannot read Japanese, but it was very good. We ordered Curry and Udon noodles to eat, and it came out to less than 900 yen per person, which was a good price. Also, a picture taken with me and my friend at the ramen shop. Just wished they had a ramen shop like this in the states, but no such luck here. The food in Japan is so much better, how can i explain it to others that have never been to Japan. Only thing i can say is, you have to come visit and see for yourself. Anything from Onigiri at Lawson, to Shabu Shabu at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel, to Curry and Udon at this ramen shop, the food of Japan simply could not be compared. And some pictures from night time views of Kyoto tower again, and the Gion District. Next, some pictures at night at the Yasaka Shrine nearby the Gion District. We visited the Yasaka Shrine first before heading down to the Gion District area. The Shrine had a lot of lanterns and temples, it was interesting to view at night. The lights at night were so pretty and it actually covered a big area. We took quite a few pictures while browsing the area. In the Gion District, while walking down the street, I actually got a view of a Maiko with some other people, but I couldn't get a clear photograph of the Maiko from across the street at night. I was with my friend walking towards the main area of the Gion District, when i saw the Maiko. It was a view that i told my friends and family, a rare sight to see one. Too bad it wasn't closer with a better view. The Gion District was almost like any other ordinary downtown area in Kyoto, but off the map, it was more on the eastern side of the map. We had to take some buses to get to the Yasaka Shrine and Gion District. I would say it was a 20 minute bus ride from the Kyoto train station. The budget ryokan we stayed at in Kyoto was about a 7 to 8 minute walk from the Kyoto Station.

kyoto: temples, vending machines, etc...

2005-07-28T17:47:00.000-07:00

and more temples in Kyoto, this pix and other show the temples we saw walking through the kyoto downtown and vicinity. There were a lot birds on the ground here and the weather was mostly cloudy. Later, it rained and we had to get some umbrellas from the convenience store for 400 to 500 yen each. The temples shown in the picture where massive, and there wasn't many people around, but the scene was very traditional japan.
Also, the many many vending machines within Kyoto and all of Japan. I was so amazed by these machines, and the drinks were so good out of these machines. Cool drinks on a warm summer day, I also hear that during the cold months, wintertime, they have warm/hot drinks that are available. But during late May, cold drinks that i have seen before are available such as Pocarti Sweat, Aquarius, Lemon Water, and many other kinds. They also have cigarette, beer, and other kinds of vending machines all throughout Japan. Prices for the drinks are anyway from 120 yen to 150 yen, for small or larger size drinks. They come in all kinds, tea, milk coffee, milk tea, coffee, fruit flavors, soda, vitamin drinks, and other kinds of drinks, which range in different prices. The other pictures are more of the downtown area near the ryokan we stayed at. We were fascinated by all the narrow streets and architecture buildings.

Kyoto sightseeing

2005-07-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

While strolling in downtown Kyoto. This is not too far from the station and from the budget ryokan. My friend and i were commenting on the narrow streets in Kyoto. It was like in a movie or something. Everything was so clean and peaceful in the downtown area of Kyoto. The weather was a bit cloudy and actually rained part of the day while we were walking in the downtown area near some of the temples. We had to go into a Family mart convenience store and buy a generic umbrella for roughly 500 yen. Kyoto seem smaller than the huge Tokyo yet, it had its own style and it was nice. Too bad we didn't get time to fit in a Bamboo garden visit, perhaps next time. But we did see a lot, first day, Yasaka Shrine, Gion District and walking around the nearby area of the Kyoto Station. The station area was so huge with my levels.

Japan trip, Narita and Kyoto

2005-07-24T23:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is the second post. I am finally adding to this travel/journal blog from my japan trip from a few months ago.
This is when me and my friend Joe arrived in Narita again on my second trip to Japan. We left LAX on May 21, Sat. and arrived the next day in the late afternoon around 5pm May 22, Sun. On the morning of May 23rd, Monday we were ready for Kyoto.
Here is a photo of the Excel Narita Hotel in Narita. And a small garden outside the Excel Hotel. After a few pictures in the garden, we headed out to take the JR-X train from Narita airport on route to Shinagawa Station, then from there onto Kyoto by Shinkasen train. The Kyoto Station was so large and i took some pix when we arrived after a 2 1/2 train ride on the Shinkasen bullet train. I remember seeing hundreds of Japanese school children sitting down while their sensei(teacher) looked over the groups. There were so many and they were all sitting organized in many groups, both boys and girls. I was amazed at how well behaved they all were in their school uniforms. Also, a picture of the kiosk and other stores in the well lighted, new, and modern Kyoto Station. I was very excited about discovering more about Kyoto, Japan.

Shinjuku and japan trip pix

2005-07-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

This is my first post on here. Finally a place where i can upload my japan trip pictures, from a few months ago.
This pix was taken at night in Shijuku, gotta love all those lights at night, so much to do, so little time. I am going to post the Japan pix and add my daily exciting advertures.
There is so much to do in Tokyo, it is endless. People were out and this was a Wednesday evening around 10pm. People were getting a little tipsy in the streets, couples were getting close and people everywhere seem to be laughing, very unlike their typical reserved behavior. I guess this is how they unwind after a hard days work, they work hard, play hard.
Ok, going to add more pix and add whatever text comes to my interesting mind. I am learning more and more how to use this Blog, so it may look a bit organized in the beginning, but this first picture is the highlight of the start of this blog since this picture is so "Japan" and the nightlight is so amazing, you all just have to experience it for yourself, this is a small glipse of what Japan is like. I took this picture with my digital camera sony cybershot. The next post(above) will be the start of the actual japan journal/pix blog. Enjoy! and please, feel free to post your comments, much appreciated. btw: i took over five hundred plus pix on this trip, but will not be able to post them all due to space and time on this blog. I will try to post what i can and i feel are the best pix i like to be on here.