Friday 27th July
- Early morning Shinkansen to Tokyo to meet up with half my family at their hotel in Asakusa. They've already done the temple and Ueno Zoo, so not bad going considering the jetlag.
- Take the Sumida River Cruise through Tokyo down towards Obaida, passing under multiple (supposedly interesting) bridges along the way
- Experience the madness of the Fuji Television Japan Broadcast Centre, which involved live shows, shops, stalls and stands related to TV shows I knew nothing about (having been sans telly all year)
- Meet up with Ian in the evening for dinner and drinks at Kamiya in Asakusa. As we exited, a fire patrol man entered the building with a stretcher, and a couple of drunken salaryman attempted some English conversation (as they often do).
- Shopping in Akihabara, at various electronics and media centres.
- Bump into Nick and a friend of his there, having a post-Fuji Rock Festival day out.
- Visit Edo-Tokyo Museum for various real and reconstructed exhibits charting the history of the capital. Best bit: pretending to ride a penny-farthing!
- Weave our way through the crowds to find a spot for the Sumida-gawa fireworks festival. Some kind local punters offer us a tiny space to sit in a baseball ground, which felt like being in a concentration camp. Except with fireworks. And glorious ones they were, eliciting genuine gasps and wows. Knocked Tenjin Matsuri for six.
- Election day is spent shopping in Shibuya. Breakfast in Starbucks overlooking 'that' crossing.
- Bump into Ricky Wilson, lead singer of Kaiser Chiefs, in a tiny T-shirt shop. A little sunburnt and bruised from their show at Fuji Rock Festival the night before (he was wearing a festival t-shirt), I would have loved to stop for a chat about Polysics, but thought it best to leave him to it.
- Just as we reach Harajuku, we're hit by a terrific downpour and vicious lightning bolts strike all around us, so we decamp under a subway entrance, then get brollies just as the worst has subsided.
- Weave through teeny shopping streets of Omotesando, then back into Yoyogi Park as the rain lets up to watch the rockabillies twist their hips, strike imaginary air guitar strings and slide about the place.
- Back onto Harajuku Jingu-bashi to see the cosplay crew out in force.
- Arcade games in Shibuya, followed by Ratatouille, which is the best Pixar (and by that token, probably CG-animated) film since Toy Story 2. Heart-warming, grin-inducing, and more mature than you'd ordinarily expect from a film featuring talking rodents.
- Final meeting with the Heiwa-Nakajima Foundation all by myself.
- Walk to Tokyo Tower for pics and postcards.
- Subway to Shinjuku and up to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices for views of the city.
- Into the hustle-bustle of Shinjuku itself and explore the massive Takashimaya Times Square department store, from the basement food hall to the HMV near the top.
- Din-dins at an izakaya before returining to the government building for night-time cityscapes.
- Asakusa Temple and market, plus the wonders of the 100 yen shop and the Studio Ghibli shop round the corner.
- Into central Tokyo and a pilgrimage to the Godzilla statue outside the Toho building.
- A look into the aquarium outside Sony Plaza turns stomach-churning when a puffer fish decides to chew on the head of one of it's co-habitants and begins an off-putting brain-eating frenzy. Pizza for lunch...
- Spot a blimp on the way to Tokyo Imperial Palace Park. Walk through the grounds, hope for martial arts at the Budokan in Kitanomaru Park, but, alas, there's some concert going on (didn't know any of the artists except someone from the Backstreet Boys was DJing apparently - there's a mark of quality if I ever saw one).
- 'Do' Yasukuni shrine for the controversy factor.
- Tokyo Dome and the Koraku-en Amuseume Park offer night-time thrills. The Thunder Dolphin rollercoaster is just as fast as ever, GeoPanic is an underground (read: dark with flashy lights) trip to the centre of the earth, but scariest attraction was easily the horror house experience Yami no Shika Byoutou (Dentristy Ward of Darkness). Taking place in The 13 Doors area that Harry visited in 2004 and sponsored by The Grudge 2, Hamish and I had to navigate terrifying corridors while examining corpses for evil teeth. While others took their time, we kept our heads low and ran, trying to avoid the monsters popping out to make us 'fill' our pants. Abso-bloody-lutely terrifying, but so much fun.
Wednesday 1st August- Shinkansen in the morning all the way down to Fukuoka (with a stop at Shin-Osaka). Make a brief stop at the City Disaster Prevention Centre if only for a chance to use the wind tunnel and earthquake simulators. Turned out to be the best thing we did all day.
- Reach Fukuoka's rather soulless sea front with obligatory 'big tower' and baseball dome.
- Decide to walk to the largest ferris wheel in Asia. Bad idea. Must have taken us about an hour and a half, plus a wrong turn thanks to near identical naming for two completely different places. Once we get there, we ride it round, then leave soon after, taking the bus this time.
- Train down to Kumamoto, arriving in the evening.
- Q. Why did the castle swear uncontrollably? A. It had turrets. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry...
- Moving on, we visited Kumamoto Castle amid temperamental weather. As we walked onwards to the Former Hosokawa Gyobutei Samurai Villa, the wind and rain became truly dreadful, and it was only when we went to the train station to check departure times that we discovered a category 5 typhoon had hit Kyushu and we had been sight-seeing during it. Decamp into a nearby arcade for blister-inducing Taiko no Tatsujin 10 (of which my mother became quite a fan).
- Errands and such in the morning, Suizenji-koen in the afternoon. Most of the rest of the day was presumably spent in the covered shopping arcades of Kumamoto.
Saturday 4th August- Fine weather for our trip to Mt. Aso, but the previous days' typhoon had caused a signal failure at one station, meaning what should have been a journey of half an hour or so lasted some three hours instead. Frustrating doesn't begin to cover it.
- Eventually make it to our arrival station, then bus it up to the cable car station, then cable car it up to volcano creater, foregoing lunch (I know! Lunch!).
- Weather reaches its peak of excellence as we reach the crater, and watch the bubbling water and smoke plumes rise from within. Beautiful, epic, prehistoric landscapes (and Japanese girls dying to have their picture taken with yours truly).
- Long journey back to the station, but forego trains for a good old coach (though that's almost half an hour late).
- Arrive at Suizenji-koen again with about 40 minutes left of Takigi No (No theatre performed by firelight, which only takes place here once a year). Makes little sense and is somewhat repetitive (40 minutes is just about enough really), but remains engrossing and atmospheric.
- Trains to Fukuoka and onto Hiroshima. Our hotel is 2 minutes walk from the Peace Memorial Park, which we then visit to observe the preparations taking place. Meet Catherine, helping with the organisation, who just so happens to be an ex-Sheffield University student who also studied at Doshisha for a year (instantly connected with the Matsumoto-sensei namecheck) and was now on the JET program, so knew Josy. Coinkydink!
- Take a look around a packed Peace Memorial Museum (naturallement). An old Japanese man strikes up a conversation with us about how he was a student when the bomb was dropped, but he was working in an arms factory at the time, so he was spared (although his mother died - his house was where the park is now). He then offered to send me various materials on his peace foundation, which was very generous, arriving soon after we got back.
- Wander about the park some more, visiting the various sights it's renowned for, while workers set up stands and stages, press crews position cameras and orchestras rehearse.
- Dinner in Okonomiyaki Mura, a building filled with numerous okonomiyaki counters. Naysh.
Monday 6th August- Wake up early to a rumbling downpour outside, but it had luckily ceased by the time we left the hotel to attend the Peace Memorial Ceremony from 8am. Music, speeches and wreath-planting, followed by a minute's silence as the bell tolled to mark the exact moment the bomb was dropped. Then, scores of doves (pigeons, actually) were released. Unexpectedly, PM Shinzo Abe, still reeling from the election results, was in attendance and gave a speech reinforcing the three non-nuclear principles Japan followed, though the Mayor of Hiroshima's emphasis on leaving the constitution as is must have caused a little tension between them both.
- Take the tram to Miyajima port, and board the ferry to the island, where we encounter the resident deer who, unlike their Nara counterparts, are not allowed to be fed, so they end up trying to eat out of bins and tourists' pockets.
- The tide was out, so we could walk quite close up to the famous floating torii for some good photo opportunities, then we headed up to Senjo-kaku, an unfinished but impressive hall and pagoda combo.
- Walk around Itsukushima-jinja, marvelling at the teeny crabs beneath us.
- Trek through the woods up Mt. Misen, board a cable car offering fascinating views of the forest beneath us, and then across the Inland Sea, which was simply breath-taking. Plus, at the top, there were a bunch of monkeys, lazing about in the shade and picking bugs out of each other (and some of the deer there too).
- After leaving the island, we saw spectators watching a sport of some kind taking place in the water. Our investigations revealed it was speedboat racing, which sounds mighty cool, but in actuality looked rather dull, just watching boats zip round in a loop again and again.
- Take a seat in front of the river next to the A-Bomb Dome and watch the Peace Lantern Ceremony as hundreds of paper lanterns are floated down the river (some more successfully than others).
- Travel to Himeji in time for lunch and a visit to the castle. Blazing hot, but certainly worth the effort (and having watched You Only Live Twice three times in the space of a couple of months, couldn't help noticing some of the ninja training locales).
- Koko-en gardens and ex-samurai quarters provide a chance to gather ourselves before heading back to the station and onto Kyoto.
- Check in at the hotel right next to the station, then meet up with various buds at Kyoto Tower Beer Garden to bid Baptiste farewell. Don't drink or eat enough (thanks to time limitations and constant photo-taking), but it's followed by gaming sessions, purikura, ice cream and, ultimately, all-night karaoke in a psychedelic ocean-themed disco room.
- Meet up with Mama and the Mish for a walk around Shijo and Gion, then through Yasaka-jinja and Maruyama Park (home to some very peculiar ducks) en route to Kiyomizu-dera. Much the same as my previous visits, but before we go, went into a little temple before the entrance in which you navigate through corridors in pitch darkness, supposedly symbolising being in the womb of some deity or other. Not quite sure, but worth 100 yen anyway.
- Shopping in Shijo arcades and a walk down Nishiki food market and Ponto-cho is followed by yummy yakiniku (though a dead rat outside the restaurant didn't really sell the establishment very well - "Poor Remy", as Hamish remarked).
- Nara - deer love crackers. Whether it was because it was too hot or it was a weekday, not sure, but Nara wasn't busy at all, meaning the attractions were not as heaving as I was worried they would be. Visit the Todai-ji, squeeze myself through the hole in the pole round the back of the Daibutsu (though I reached a point where neither my arms or legs could touch the ground, so I needed to be pulled out the other end).
- Views from the Nigatsu-do balcony and a chance for some rest before a lantern-lined walk in the woods. Kofuku-ji pagoda, turtle action at Sarusawa pond, then more delicious okonomiyaki. As we leave, the night illuminations have begun, but, figuring it's just going to be everything we've seen during the day, but with little lights hither and thither, we call it a day.
Friday 10th August- A call from the International Centre at Doshisha (I'm too appear in more promotional material for the university) coincides with a visit to Imadegawa campus, and Mumsy and Hamish get a chance to sample the tastes of the canteen. Dip into Tsutaya to rent a movie, then hop on a bus to Kinkakuji. Or at least, I got very confused, and we took the bus to Ginkakuji instead. But what the hey, we ended up catching them both that afternoon, so it all turned out okay.
- Head to Mukaijima to give a (brief) tour of my room. Hamish stays the night, so we go to the wacky shop round the corner, buy some McDonald's and watch Godzilla vs Destoroyah. Ilan comes round a little later and goes a bit bonkers while we watch YouTube videos into the wee hours.
- Slow start, but get into Osaka for lunch, and visit geeky stores, like electronics shops and the Chax Colony in Amerika-mura. End up in the long arcade and go on a spending spree in Book Off, getting second-hand movie pamphlets and DVDs on the cheap.
- Take a peek in Mike's Store (the place with the Predator statue outside) and K-Optix (the place with the Cucumber Hendrix figure, which we sneakily snap, deflecting staff assistance concerning eyewear).
- Walk through Den Den Town and brief stops in Super Potato and Retro Game Revival to look at the stacks of console crap and play Virtual Boy.
- Meet with Mother (who has spent a very hot day temple-hopping in Kyoto), and walk about Dotombori, where we have dinner, giggle at the dog café, observe the pretty neon (much of it now themed around the upcoming world athletics tournament to be held in Osaka) and play a few arcade games.
- Arashiyama is today's destination, and a lovely day for it too. Watch some fishing, then go for a relaxing boat trip on the Hozu River.
- After lunch, we head to Tenryu-ji for it's lovely garden, then walk through the bamboo groves behind, stop at a station for shaved ice-cream, then get horribly lost on the way back, thanks to just not taking a right when I should have done.
- Back into Shijo for karaoke (a chance to show how I've improved over the course of my study year abroad), then a few more arcade games before bed.
- Final shopping in Shijo, then a purikura session at Namco Wonder Tower, which results in some frightful editing and rakugaki afterwards.
- Fushimi Inari-taisha in the late afternoon/early evening. Spiders, cats, snakes and bats give it a 'witch's cauldron' atmosphere and it's a tiring climb to the top for views of Kyoto, but we make it (well, Hamish calls it quits two flights of steps from the goal).
- Dinner at Fujinoya on the balcony overlooking the Kamo-gawa. Small portions, but so many courses (not all of it to our tastes, but the tempura was delicious).
