Fuji-San

On my last full day in Japan, I did two things.  First, I splurged and stayed at a nicer ryokan, which was friggin' awesome.  Second, I went to see one of the most unmissable sights in Japan - Fuji-san.  It was a bit confusing to find the bus from Tokyo to a place called Kawaguchi Lake, which has a great lookout point of the mountain. I wanted to climb Mount Fuji, but many red flags advised against climbing it in winter.  I also didn't have enough time, nor was I prepared for a snowshoeing trip.

Kawaguchi was pretty much dead.  Many places were either not open, or empty.  There weren't that many people, and there was a lot of snow.  However, it was a clear day.  All the mountains and trees around the Fuji-san area were a nice break from the din of Tokyo.  I walked to the gondola that went up to the lookout.

Mount Fuji is an beautiful and epic sight to behold.  When I saw it, I realized why it was of national importance.  It is one huge-ass mountain.  It also is very wide.  None of my pictures could do it justice at all. 

Lucky nothing like this happened to me on my backpacking trip.

After I came down, I walked around Kawaguchi Lake.  It was getting really cold, and the few places that were open were closing up shop.  However, I stumbled over a nice outdoor onsen that was open.  Had it to myself for the whole time.  Excellent.

Getting back to Tokyo late because the bus was late to arrive, hot tea was waiting for me in my room.  Once I saw that, I just smiled and thought to myself that it was worth splurging on a better ryokan.

Traditional Japanese breakfast

Well, that more or less sums up my travels through Japan, HK, Macau, and Guangzhou.  It was one of my most memorable trips.  I had total control over where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do, which is the advantage of doing a solo assault.  But, next time I do Japan, I want people to come with me for sure.

Tomorrow, I go back to Vancouver for about a month.  I'm really looking forward to seeing my family and friends who I haven't seen in over 9 months! Oh, the stories I have to tell them!

I'll miss all the places that I've seen here in Asia so far.  I'll miss my colleagues that are leaving Wuhan, especially my travel buddy Nicolas.  We've traveled all over China with each other: Wuhan, Shanghai, Wudang Shan, Xi'an, Beijing and Chengdu. Our adventures together are over, but mine are not. I will have more, and perhaps find a new travel partner.

What awaits me when I come back to China in August?  I don't know.  Keep checking my blog.  It might be out of action for a while when I'm back in my native Vancouver, but rest assured, it'll be back in full swing by the time I get back to China.  Part one of my adventures in Asia are over.  Thanks for reading and have a great summer!!!

I wonder where that fish did go? A fish, a fish, a fishy oooh!

The next day, I left the hostel early to get down to the Tokyo Fish Market, the largest fish market in all Asia.  On the way there, I stopped by the Sony Building.  Their showcase displays had may gadgets of varying functionality.  Some were pretty useless, while others were pretty neat contraptions. A portable bike with a GPS attachment was pretty cool to look at.  I even considered buying a new cutting-edge digital camera, but it was tai gui le.

I got down to the fish market around 9AM, which was WAY too late to see the really interesting things like the fish auction.  Nonetheless, there were hordes of fishermen, workers, trucks and wagons, and of course, fish remains.  I got to see how the fishermen cleaned up after a day's work.

 The one word I can think of to describe the fish market is intense. Trucks would not stop.  Fishermen were arguing and demanding payment from their bosses.  People were trying to sell their fish to whoever passed by.  To be honest, if I had access to a kitchen in Tokyo, I would have bought a nice piece of fish.


Before leaving the area, I was approached by an old lady who asked me if I wanted to have some sashimi.  The lineup to this place was pretty long, but since it was only me, I skipped to the front immediately. It was the best sashimi I've ever had in my life.  There's no other way to explain it, but my sashimi don tasted like excellent.

 Headed to the Imperial Palace after that.  Unfortunately, they didn't allow me in because tours only went through early in the day.  Too bad for me.

After being rejected there, I moved my stuff from my hostel to a small and inexpensive ryokan.  It was in Asakusa, and was near the hostel.  It also was roughly the same price.

After that, I gunned over to a suburb outside of the city core.  Why did I do that??? To go to one of the best parts of my trip...the Ghibili Museum!!  I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside.  The only thing I'll say about it is that it is a magical place.  It's a small museum, but it was easily a highlight of my entire backpacking sojourn throughout Japan and South China.

At night, I went to the well known areas of Harajuku and Shibuya.  Huge amounts of people, although maybe not as crazy as I thought.  Maybe that's because I was coming to Japan from China, maybe because it was raining.  I dunno.  But I did have a good time walking around seeing all the fashionistas out in full force.

I ended my second day in Tokyo trying to get into an Irish pub to get myself a Guiness, but it was WAY too busy.  I settled for a hot shower and tea before bed.

Totoro selling tickets.

Shibuya!

Sendai Part II/ Matsushima

 The next day, Joyce and I went to the harbor town of Matsushima.  The area is famous for having a string of really beautiful islands and awesome seafood.  It was really cold the day we decided to go there, but I had fun nonetheless. The food alone made it worth while.  Below shows my oyster lunch.

Freshly made rice crackers.

Joyce and I ate skewered fish cakes while drinking free tea with some old Japanese women.

The ferry ride brought us past some stellar views of the nearby islands.  Basho, a famous Japanese poet, only had this to say about Matsushima after being blown away by it's beauty:

Matsushima ah!
A-ah, Matsushima, ah!
Matsushima, ah!

At night, Joyce and I walked down a main pedestrian artery of Sendai towards the JR Railway Station.  Going up a tall tower to overlook the city at night, I found out Sendai was a lot more expansive than I thought.

Cheese Kit Kat. Strangely tasty.

Joyciaaaaahhh!!!!!

I really liked Sendai.  It is a sad tragedy of what happened there during the quake, but Joyce is stickin' it out up there for a while.  I'm so honored to be a friend of such a brave young woman.

It was well worth it to go up there and meet my old colleague.  But now she just needs to return the favor and come to see me in China (*ahem* Joyce...meet you in Shanghai or Beijing sometime...).

Sendai Part I

 North of Tokyo lies the quiet and easygoing city of Sendai.  You may know of it because it was one of the hardest hit cities during Japan's devastating earthquake earlier this year. 

My old coworker Joyce from Sage Bistro at UBC teaches there.  She was the best host ever.  Right when I got of the shinkansen, she met me at the train station and brought me to have a local dish - beef tongue.  She let me crash at her place, and even showed me around town.  Later, we ate at a restaurant that served barbecue cow's stomach, artery and the like.

Beef tongue

The next day, Joyce and I met up with her colleagues.  We all went over to Sakunami Spa, a very well maintained onsen north of Sendai.  Like Takayama, the air was crisp and cold.  I loved it, especially coming from a city like Yokohama.  Joyce and her friends went into the female onsen, and I went solo in the men's pools.  Unfortunately for the girls, their outside onsen was unavailable, but mine was not.  It overlooked a bubbling creek that was surrounded by a cliff face. Beautiful!

More onsen hopping, but seriously, I never got tired of these!

 
After onsen hopping, we all went to Joyce's friends' favorite burger joint. It was a really nice break from all the Asian food I was getting during my trip through South China and Japan.  Eating there made me realize how much I actually missed American food. I never thought I would say it, but yeah, I miss it.

A Japanese, a few Kiwis, a Scotswoman, and some Canucks talking about differences in the English language.

 

Joyce and I at a coffee house.

After walking around at night, this steamy cap hit the spot.

Takayama

I had some great outdoor adventures in the little town of Takayama - a small hamlet that looked over the Japanese Alps. It took a good to chunk of time just to get there, but it was well worth it.

I just scored. Found a free serve-yourself sake tasting cabinet.

The air in Takayama was cold and crisp.  The ground was covered in snow, and I sort of got there late in the day.  That didn't stop me from trekking up one of the nearby hills on foot.

I have to admit I do some pretty dumb ass things in nature when I'm alone.  At the trail head just before this picture of me in the snow, I saw warning signs not to continue on the path because it was slippery and snowed in. They were in Japanese and I can't read Japanese, but it was pretty obvious.  I continued on after seeing hundreds of footprints in the snow going past the sign.

Hiking around Takayama was refreshing.  Before this, most of my walking had been urban walks (from Guangzhou up to this point in my journeys, save Miyajima).  Ran into a guy with a group of dogs, but aside from that, the walk was just me, snow, and clean air.

After coming down the hill, I stopped at the local library to check my email.  I was very impressed by the library and wanted to take pictures inside of it to show my mom (who is a teacher librarian), but the librarian told me not to take pics. 

I asked where I could get some good food, and the staff told me to get some Hida gyu, which had meat quality standards similar to that in Kobe.  So I stopped at one place on the major road that ran through town to get a Hida beef noodle bowl.

I was craving a Guinness.  After a somewhat unsuccessful search for an Irish pub (I found one and the lights were on, but it was closed), I went back to my hotel and soaked myself in their external rooftop onsen. It was a clean and beautiful onsen and no one was around.  The snow came down slowly like powered sugar. I had the onsen all to myself for an hour and a half.  The only bad part was that I forgot my towel in my room.  I walked back soaking wet, but felt like a million bucks!

Hida Gyu dinner

This one's for my mom.  Buen Camino!

Nara

After Osaka, I headed to the quaint and quiet little town of Nara. There was lot of Japanese culture here...not to mention all the adorable deer.  If you go up to them, they'll bow towards you for some food.

Walked up a big hill to get to the the large Todaiji Temple.  Along the way, I was mobbed by various groups of deer.  One deer tried to eat my map.  Another tried to eat my pants.  They even tried to follow me into a store, where I had to sacrifice my snack to them just to get them off my tail.  The grass fields in Nara are very brown, and the deer scour the area for fresh green leaves.  Anytime I saw these leaves, I picked them up.  I learned that using leaves as a decoy can prevent the deer from following me.

Lanterns, lanterns and more lanterns

Lunch

Very kawai, but trying to eat my pants is just going too far.

Osaka

I've decided to speed up blogging my Japan 2011 trip, since it's 4 months late.  I'm going to sum up my entire Osaka trip in 3 pictures. The first is at the Osaka Aquarium.  It puts Vancouver Aquarium to shame.

Japanese Spider Crab at the Osaka Aquarium

The next one is about the food.  Apparently, Osaka is really famous for it's cheapo all-you-can-eat sushi.  I didn't think it was cheap, but it certainly made my day.
 

All You Can Eat Sushi

The last one is in the Bladerunner-esque district of Dotonbori.  It was all very cyberpunk. Big crowds, big lights, and people dressing up like they're replicants.

Dotonbori

Kobe

The next stop on the agenda was Kobe.  It was Spring Festival back in Chinaland, and Kobe's well-established Chinatown promised to be busy as hell.  I had to stop here to investigate.

Japanese plastic food art, China style

After eating the most expensive cha sha bao I've ever bought, I had a craving for good ol' New Town Bakery bao back in Vancity.

Ruins of the Kobe Earthquake...a cryptic sight for the coming days in Japan after my backpacking trip. I hope Japan can bounce back after the recent events, just like they did after the Kobe earthquake.

Apparently, to be deemed worthy of being called Kobe beef, cuts have to pass a standardized criteria from a local quality check.  Something about the meat's marbled texture and appearance?

In search for a decently priced Kobe beef steak restaurant.

Found one!  And it only cost me $50.

I had my own cook because I came in fairly early to beat the crowd.

After eating the Kobe beef steak you see in this picture, I became very confused.  I don't know what's better - Albertan steak or Kobe steak?

Only places that show this sign use beef that has been checked by the local quality board.

Danger! Monkeys in the sewer!