Ditch's Return to Japan: Chronological Miscellany


August 7th & 8th, 2006

United began a chain of events and Rochester that took over two days to unfold. First, the flight from Rochester to Chicago was overbooked, and they were yanking people off the flight long enough to delay takeoff. Thus I had to sprint through O'Hare (thankfully not too far) in order to reach the Tokyo flight, and since my suitcase can't sprint it didn't make the plane. When I arrived at Narita airport I picked up a plackard with my name on it in the luggage carousel and it directed me to the desk where I filled out the forms for my bag to be delivered. In hindsight I'm actually glad this happened because it meant not having to drag my suitcase through the airport, the train to Shinjuku, from the train station to my hotel and up the decent set of stairs up to the hotel lobby.


August 9th

At the end of the day's running around, the suitcase was waiting for me at the hotel.


August 10th

Shinjuku, a 'neighborhood' of Tokyo, is gigantic. Since Tokyo isn't laid out with the precision of New York, finding the fastest way from one part to another can be quite a chore. Sometimes finding the way at all is nearly impossible. That said, it only took Alex Golden and myself two days to find the shortest path from the hotel to the train station: a pedestrian bridge that started about two blocks from the hotel and went the rest of the way to the station. I took some pictures from the bridge: Shinjuku 1, Shinjuku 2, Shinjuku 3, Shinjuku 4, Shinjuku 5, Shinjuku 6 (w/ Alex's head).


August 11th

More from the walkway, this time a pretty building: Building, and random concrete dealies. Then it was off to Yokohama, which might as well be another Tokyo neighborhood for how fast it is to get there. After walking through Yokohama station we quickly came upon the Pacifico Yokohama, a convention center. Pics: Pacifico 1, Pacifico 2. Pacifico is alongside CosmoClock21, one of the largest ferris wheels in the world. Then it was on to the CosmoClock itself. CosmoClock 2... hold on, what the heck is that?

That would be the Yokohama Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Japan. It has some nice-looking neighbors. The closer you get, the more you come to realize just how big it is. After wandering into the building and failing to find a way up to the top floor we finally headed over to the CosmoClock and took a ride. Yokohama 1, Yokohama 2, Yokohama 3, Yokohama 4, Muscle Theater?!, Yokohama 5. The last stop in Yokohama was their Chinatown, a collection of expensive restaurants, one cool building, and an old guy wearing an "I don't give a (crap)" hat. It was an accurate hat given his expression. And that was Yokohama.


August 13th

Somewhat of a double-shot. First stop was Harajuku for its famous cosplayers. Cosplayers 2, cosplayers 3. Not as many as last year sadly, and two of them were gaijin. Friggin' gaijin.

Part two was a visit to the Rainbow Bridge, which crosses Tokyo Bay Harbor. Sadly the directions we got forced us to walk quite a ways, though there were some things to see along the way. Shots from the bridge: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, the belly of the rainbow as we crossed under the bridge to walk back. The bridge, just before the start of pictures from the Odaiba artificial island: the Fuji TV building, Odaiba 2, Odaiba 3, Odaiba 4. On your left you'll see gigantic cranes, some buildings, some more buildings, a bridge entry/exit ramp, industrial blight and tugboats.


August 14th

This was the 'leaving Tokyo' day. Before we went, Alex and I stopped off at Ariake, one of the 'reclaimed' parts of Tokyo like Odaiba. Quite pretty. Ariake 1, TOKYO BIG SITE, Ariake Coliseum, Ariake Coliseum 2, Ariake 2, Ariake 3. From Ariake we headed to the airport, and on the way we saw some more nice buildings. Then it was a short trip on board the PokePlane and we were in the Goldens' next of the woods (North-Central Japan, the Fukui and Ishikawa prefectures).


August 15th

After a balmy night in Alex's apartment, I arose and made the trek to the next-door temple. Temple 1, Temple 2, Tombs 1, Tombs 2, Tombs 3, Temple 3, Temple 4, Temple 5, Temple 6, Temple 7, Alex waves from his bedroom, Temple 8, Temple 9, Bell 1, Bell 2, Temple 10, Temple 11. Just a random sight in a random working-class town in Japan. Alex randomly decided that we should visit random beautiful streams and a random beautiful waterfall with a refreshing swimming hole that is guarded only by Japan's enormous insect population. Mothra is only a mild exaggeration. Downstream from the falls, downstream 2. Alex communing with nature. Me 'communing' with nature. More waterfall, more 2, more 3. After the nature hike I was handed off to Alex's twin Rich for the brief Osaka leg of the trip.


August 16th

Japanese fast food restaurant Mos Burger has an interesting idea of what a taco looks like. This tower cost too much to go all the way up, so Rich and I plunked down some yen for massage chairs in the middle area of it. 100 yen for 5 minutes of heaven. Osaka did have its ugly side, though nothing there can compete with the abandoned industrial sections of Buffalo for sheer hideousness.


August 17th

My last full day in Japan. We headed a short way to Kobe, famous for beef and earthquakes. View from near the train station: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. It started to rain, forcing us into a tall building where I was able to get an awesome view for Kobe from an empty quasi-lounge. Kobe one, Kobe two, Kobe three, Kobe four, keep this building in mind, Kobe five, Kobe six, Kobe seven, Kobe eight, Kobe nine, crappy amusement park we wasted some time at later, Kobe ten, Kobe eleven, Kobe twelve, Kobe thirteen, Kobe fourteen, Kobe fifteen.

Rain stopped long enough for us to go to 'Kobe Sweets Harbor', a place for tourists to pay too much for sweets. How will Japan possibly close the obesity gap with 600 yen candy apples?! I don't even want to know what this is. Some pictures taken from the amusement park: one, two, three. What else to do in Kobe before heading back? Well there was still this Church-looking thing, and as ignorant gaijin we wandered in. You could smell the opulence. It only got ritzier as we went up, because this was one of Kobe's many wedding parlors for (I can only assume) billionaires. Kobe is considered very romantic since it's on the water. I felt like I should have had to pay a couple thousand yen just to go inside but we were allowed to stroll aimlessly. I suppose one of the benefits of low-low crime is that one is able to explore big, expensive buildings at will. Case in point: the Umeda Sky Building, 5th tallest in Japan and a rather long walk from Osaka station.

Sky building from the ground, two, three, four, five. The tower was constructed to help the area around it prosper, but sadly this didn't happen. Inside we were told not to go into certain areas since they were for paying tours, and that included the top area. Thankfully a good view could be had for free on the middle level. More, more 2, more 3, more 4, more 5, more 6, more 7. Having covered Kobe, the long walk to the sky building and the sky building, we caught a cab back to the hotel. After a brief rest we went out to a high-end all-you-can-eat restaurant wherein you order thin cuts of meat and cook it on your own hibachi grill. It cost a fair amount but it was worth it. Nomehodai plus tobehodai (note these could be wildly misspelled) equals good times.


August 18th

After getting my flight changed from Tokyo to Osaka (something I should have realized would be needed), I was able to have a good part of the day available for one last tourism run. I have forgotten what exactly this is, but this is the World Trade Center Osaka and this is a ferris wheel we rode on. Views on the wheel: a famous aquarium we didn't have time for, big nearby bridge, across the way, Osaka one, Osaka two, Osaka three, Osaka four, Osaka five. Then we hurried back to Osaka station so I could barely arrive on time at Kansai airport for the journey home.