Dear diary,
My current trip to Japan has been way more tiring and busy than I'd ever imagined beforehand so that's why I've been neglecting to update the recent events. But somehow I expected I might not be able to update this blog daily like earlier because of our schedule but still it took me as a bit of a surprise.
In a nutshell I met some Minami's friends in Osaka and we went to Umeda sky building with them. I couldn't go to JUOLA's university because he was sick the day I was supposed to go there and time was running up already. I also went to Kyoto to see a few sights, Fushimi Inari being the most important one. But I saw less sights in Kyoto than I'd planned because of the awful weather and really tiring Fushimi Inari tour, we had to climb around the mountain path for 3-4 hours.
After Kyoto we checked out from our Osaka's apartment and headed over to Hiroshima, in where we saw the atom bomb sights including A-bomb dome, museum, park and children memorial. The museum itself was really moving and thought provoking, a really important experience overall. And before Beppu we did a short day trip in Fukuoka, nothing much to say about that than there were people preparing for the Yamakasa festival which meant people walking on the street wearing only a shirt and fundoshi.
Now that we arrived to Beppu on yesterday we have just been on a "more relaxed vacation" having no other plans to just go to some onsen occasionally and just relax. We are going to be around Beppu till 14th morning when we will travel all the way from here to Tokyo.
2010/07/12
2010/07/05
Day 5: Visit to Kyoto's Hanazono university with Imai sensei.
Today on the 5th day of travel me and Kake (Joni and Jenni wanted to stay together at the apartment) went to Kyoto's Hanazono university to meet Imai-sensei which I met in Desucon 2009 and 2010. We were in Kyoto's Emmachi station around 14:45 and soon Imai came to meet us. At first we Kake tried to withdraw some money out of his credit card's debit account but unfortunately it can't be done here in Japan. So after that we went to Hanazono university and Imai showed us some videos his students had made from their 2009 and 2010 Desucon trips. Hanazono's university looked really modern and clinical, like some kinda modern hospital. After looking some DVDs we tried to search for the students who were in Desucon but apparently they got scared of us and ran away or something lol. So we went to Imai's home and he phoned some of his students. We cooked some okonomiyaki and soon 3 of his (former) students arrived to his house: Chaba, Rei and Miyuki. We watched some anime from Imai's video projector and ate a lot of good okonomiyaki, I also had a couple of chuhais too. Around 21:00 it was time to head back to Noda, Rei and Miyuki walked with us to the bus station and I encouraged them to come to Finland again someday. ^^ Then we said also goodbye to Imai but I'm meeting him at Desucon 2011 because apparently he's coming there then too. After I arrived to our apartment I did some laundry and now it's time to get some sleep.
Tomorrow I'll go to JUOLA's campus area to meet some of his fellow schoolmates. I'm looking forward on getting some new friends and contacts there!
Tomorrow I'll go to JUOLA's campus area to meet some of his fellow schoolmates. I'm looking forward on getting some new friends and contacts there!
Day 4: Umi ga suki!
On the 4th day we went to a big beach party arranged by JUOLA's Japanese friend Tomo. We went to the Nikinohama beach and there were a bunch of people grilling hamburgers already. We drank and ate a lot and I also went swimming for the first time in this summer, the water had some seaweed floating around but was otherwise nice. I also did some sumo wrestling at the beach with JUOLA and Joni for the lolz but unfortunately lost to both of em. I also enjoyed talking to different Japanese people in Japanese and I must say the people in Osaka are really nice, one of the greatest people I've met! Kake and Joni both drank a lot and both also passed out for a while to the party place. We finally went back to our apartment around 22:00.
2010/07/03
Day 2&3: Namba (with JUOLA)
So on the 2nd day in Osaka we first met up with our friend Hiro and headed over to Namba, we were about to spend the day in that area. We went to eat lunch at Yoshinoya and the gyuudon of Yoshinoya was as great as always! Then we killed some time in arcade and I went to Denden town's hoppy shop Vanilla before it was time to meet up with JUOLA and Robert. Then we sat together in a cafe for some time and did all the introductions between each other, after a while it was time to visit the infamous military/nazi store JUOLA told us about. We went to the Shinsaibashi shopping street and the store was somewhere around there, Kake bought a whip from there lol.
Then it was time to get some beer and food so we went to Shaky's pizza restaurant, it had 60 minutes all you can drink buffet and 2 hour pizza buffet. Then some more JUOLA's schoolmates joined our group and there was more than 10 people from at least 8 different nationalities in our group. We had a great time at Shaky's and made a quite lot of noise there too. Kake even broke his whip because they decided to have some kind of "whipping endurance contest" in the middle of Shaky's, people were watching em goin at it and I was kinda embarrassed because of them to be honest. ^^; Then me, Joni and Jenni decided to leave back to our apartment and Kake stayed with the rest of the guys. On the way back we went to arcade because I wanted to play some pop'n music and on the way there were met some Saudi-Arabian guy who asked if we are from Finland and are we playing in a band.
So we went back to our apartment and Kake was still somewhere on the next day's morning. Later I heard he had lost his memory due drinking and he actually woke up from a park in Izumi (JUOLA's neighbourhood) all alone and with JUOLA's bag with him. He finally found JUOLA's apartment and stayed there for some time before coming back to our apartment, what a crazy guy he is.
On the 3rd day (yesterday) I went alone to Denden town and did some sightseeing and shopping there. I bought some anim related goods like Fate/Stay Night's Saber bath towel and K-On! folding fan. When I got hungry I decided to go to a maid cafe and it was a fun experience though way too expensive, I almost felt I got robbed back there. The maids sang an introduction song when I got seated down and some maids came to chat with me. I ordered omurice and when I got it, one of the maids wrote my name and drew a cat and pawns to my omurice with ketchup. After that I had no daily budget left so I headed back to our apartment and there was Hiro waiting for me with Joni and Jenni. Hiro left quite soon after that and Kake finally came back. I fell asleep way too early, around 21:30 and woke up a couple of hours ago around 2:30. When I'm writing this the time's around 5:00 and I'm not feeling sleepy anymore, I guess the jetlag is quite bad for me this time... Today we're going to the big beach party arranged by some Japanese schoolmate of JUOLA, I'm looking forward on that!
Then it was time to get some beer and food so we went to Shaky's pizza restaurant, it had 60 minutes all you can drink buffet and 2 hour pizza buffet. Then some more JUOLA's schoolmates joined our group and there was more than 10 people from at least 8 different nationalities in our group. We had a great time at Shaky's and made a quite lot of noise there too. Kake even broke his whip because they decided to have some kind of "whipping endurance contest" in the middle of Shaky's, people were watching em goin at it and I was kinda embarrassed because of them to be honest. ^^; Then me, Joni and Jenni decided to leave back to our apartment and Kake stayed with the rest of the guys. On the way back we went to arcade because I wanted to play some pop'n music and on the way there were met some Saudi-Arabian guy who asked if we are from Finland and are we playing in a band.
So we went back to our apartment and Kake was still somewhere on the next day's morning. Later I heard he had lost his memory due drinking and he actually woke up from a park in Izumi (JUOLA's neighbourhood) all alone and with JUOLA's bag with him. He finally found JUOLA's apartment and stayed there for some time before coming back to our apartment, what a crazy guy he is.
On the 3rd day (yesterday) I went alone to Denden town and did some sightseeing and shopping there. I bought some anim related goods like Fate/Stay Night's Saber bath towel and K-On! folding fan. When I got hungry I decided to go to a maid cafe and it was a fun experience though way too expensive, I almost felt I got robbed back there. The maids sang an introduction song when I got seated down and some maids came to chat with me. I ordered omurice and when I got it, one of the maids wrote my name and drew a cat and pawns to my omurice with ketchup. After that I had no daily budget left so I headed back to our apartment and there was Hiro waiting for me with Joni and Jenni. Hiro left quite soon after that and Kake finally came back. I fell asleep way too early, around 21:30 and woke up a couple of hours ago around 2:30. When I'm writing this the time's around 5:00 and I'm not feeling sleepy anymore, I guess the jetlag is quite bad for me this time... Today we're going to the big beach party arranged by some Japanese schoolmate of JUOLA, I'm looking forward on that!
2010/07/02
Day 1: arrival and meetup with Jonas
I arrived to Kansai airport and got pretty fast through all the checks and got my luggage. Then I headed over to Noda station first and trie to call to my landlord so I could get keys to the apartment. Well it turned out the apartment would be ready by 14:00 and the time was 11:30 currently so I headed over to Osaka station and tried to look for a coin locker. Of course all the big lockers were already reserved so I travelled farther to Shin-Osaka but couldn't find any lockers there. So I just went and sat down to one of the sofas in the lobby aread there and waited for time to pass. By this time I was getting worried about my fellow travellers because I hadn't heard anything from em and their mobile phones were turned off. Well when I went back to Noda they were already waiting for me there and their told me their mobile phones aren't working here in Japan. And I heard some bad news for starters; they had lost their JR passes somewhere in China and one of the three travellers have had stomach pains for 4 days so we had to look for a doctor.
We met our landlord Masa and headed to our apartment. The apartment is really small for us 4 but otherwise clean and in a good place. Masa tried to look for an english speaking doctor but we couldn't find one so we decided we're gonna go to a Japanese speaking doctor the next day with Hiro acting as a translator there. We hanged around a bit in our apartment and I went to shower, and around 17:30 it was time to head over to Osaka/Umeda to meet Jonas.
I arrived to Osaka station's Central north exit and there I met Jonas, we were about to head over to an arcade for some rhythm game action. Turns out Jonas had a poor sense of direction and we ended up wandering around Umeda for some time before we finally found Loft department store and next to it was the arcade. I played some beatmaniaIIDX, pop'n music and taiko no tatsujin and I pretty much sucked in all of em like usually on the first days of arrival. After arcade we went to a cafe and from there to Loft mall. On the 5th floor of Loft there was all kinda crazy character/party goods and we had a fun time browsing through all the weird stuff there. Then after that we went to meet Jonas'es girlfriend Minami and all 3 of us went to eat some okonomiyaki, Minami knew a famous okonomiyaki place near Osaka station. The okonomiyaki there was heavenly good, one of the best I've had! After eating okonomiyaki it was time to head back over to our apartment to get some sleep.
Today we're meeting with Hiro and Antti and we are going to Namba to browse around and some drinking.
We met our landlord Masa and headed to our apartment. The apartment is really small for us 4 but otherwise clean and in a good place. Masa tried to look for an english speaking doctor but we couldn't find one so we decided we're gonna go to a Japanese speaking doctor the next day with Hiro acting as a translator there. We hanged around a bit in our apartment and I went to shower, and around 17:30 it was time to head over to Osaka/Umeda to meet Jonas.
I arrived to Osaka station's Central north exit and there I met Jonas, we were about to head over to an arcade for some rhythm game action. Turns out Jonas had a poor sense of direction and we ended up wandering around Umeda for some time before we finally found Loft department store and next to it was the arcade. I played some beatmaniaIIDX, pop'n music and taiko no tatsujin and I pretty much sucked in all of em like usually on the first days of arrival. After arcade we went to a cafe and from there to Loft mall. On the 5th floor of Loft there was all kinda crazy character/party goods and we had a fun time browsing through all the weird stuff there. Then after that we went to meet Jonas'es girlfriend Minami and all 3 of us went to eat some okonomiyaki, Minami knew a famous okonomiyaki place near Osaka station. The okonomiyaki there was heavenly good, one of the best I've had! After eating okonomiyaki it was time to head back over to our apartment to get some sleep.
Today we're meeting with Hiro and Antti and we are going to Namba to browse around and some drinking.
2010/06/28
Prelude: epic failing
So I started my journey by going to my friend's birthday party&midsummer celebration to Kokkola which is around 250 kilometers from my home. I had a great time with bunch of friends there and was about to go to Helsinki with one of my friends' car ride. On the way to Kokkola from Helsinki one of the tires in their car had broken down and they had to struggle the rest of the trip with a spare wheel. But they got a proper replacement tire in Kokkola thanks to our host friend's father.
So we headed towards Helsinki yesterday when after 100 kilometers of driving we noticed ANOTHER tire had broken down. So we had to change the car's spare wheel with the broken one and try to manage with that setup. But as somehow expected, all the tires of that car were on the verge of breaking down so of course the third wheel started to act up too and our trip came to a halt. We had to leave our car somewhere between Seinäjoki and Jalasjärvi. Then our friend picked us and we tried to board the last train bound from Seinäjoki to Helsinki BUT of course it was already fully booked by that time. So what we decided to do was to head over to our friend's place (who lives near Seinäjoki) and sleep the night over there, he got us a deal for a set of wheels with a fairly cheap price.
So today we woke up, got the spare set of tires and headed over to the place we had left the car to change the tires. The tires were luckily a match (they were previously from a different car than the one we had) and we finally could continue towards Helsinki. I finally arrived to my ex apartment in Helsinki and tomorrow I'm gonna go buy some souvenirs. Then the day after tomorrow it's finally time to fly to Japan!
This was also blogged by our driver Drasa, from the staff of Desucon (in Finnish)
So we headed towards Helsinki yesterday when after 100 kilometers of driving we noticed ANOTHER tire had broken down. So we had to change the car's spare wheel with the broken one and try to manage with that setup. But as somehow expected, all the tires of that car were on the verge of breaking down so of course the third wheel started to act up too and our trip came to a halt. We had to leave our car somewhere between Seinäjoki and Jalasjärvi. Then our friend picked us and we tried to board the last train bound from Seinäjoki to Helsinki BUT of course it was already fully booked by that time. So what we decided to do was to head over to our friend's place (who lives near Seinäjoki) and sleep the night over there, he got us a deal for a set of wheels with a fairly cheap price.
So today we woke up, got the spare set of tires and headed over to the place we had left the car to change the tires. The tires were luckily a match (they were previously from a different car than the one we had) and we finally could continue towards Helsinki. I finally arrived to my ex apartment in Helsinki and tomorrow I'm gonna go buy some souvenirs. Then the day after tomorrow it's finally time to fly to Japan!
This was also blogged by our driver Drasa, from the staff of Desucon (in Finnish)
2010/05/08
A new beginning 新しい旅
So a lot of things have happened since my last trip to Japan, mainly the surgery operation because of my spinal disc herniation and all the rehabilitation that's been related to it. But on a positive note I just ordered a flight ticket to Japan and this marks the start of a new journey!
This time there is gonna be 3 fellow Finns from my hometown Oulu travelling along with me: Joni, his girlfriend Jenni and Kake. They are spending whole June in China from where they will travel by a ferry from Shangai to Osaka. My flight arrives to Osaka's Kansai International airport on the 1st of July at 08:55 and my flight back to Finland departs from Tokyo Narita airport on the 27th of July at 12:00. We've ordered a 7 day Japan Rail Pass between 8th-14th of July and our travel plan is as follows:
- Osaka 1st-7th July
- Kyoto 8th-9th July
- Hiroshima 10th July
- Kyuushu (Beppu and/or Fukuoka) 11th-13th July
- Tokyo 14th-27th July
This time my aim is to see other parts of Japan too besides Tokyo which include Kyoto's most famous sightseeing spots, Hiroshima's peace memorial park and the famous atom bomb museum. Also I'm really looking forward to experincing the beaches of Japan, lots of different onsens and at least one 'traditional summer festival' (夏祭り).
Originally I was planning for stay all the way till around 17th-19th August because of the coming Comic Market 78 (in August 13-15th). But since I didn't have enough funds for it, I settled for the same time as my friends are staying in Japan. Even then I have 3½ weeks to make the summer of 2010 one of the most memorable ever!
This time there is gonna be 3 fellow Finns from my hometown Oulu travelling along with me: Joni, his girlfriend Jenni and Kake. They are spending whole June in China from where they will travel by a ferry from Shangai to Osaka. My flight arrives to Osaka's Kansai International airport on the 1st of July at 08:55 and my flight back to Finland departs from Tokyo Narita airport on the 27th of July at 12:00. We've ordered a 7 day Japan Rail Pass between 8th-14th of July and our travel plan is as follows:
- Osaka 1st-7th July
- Kyoto 8th-9th July
- Hiroshima 10th July
- Kyuushu (Beppu and/or Fukuoka) 11th-13th July
- Tokyo 14th-27th July
This time my aim is to see other parts of Japan too besides Tokyo which include Kyoto's most famous sightseeing spots, Hiroshima's peace memorial park and the famous atom bomb museum. Also I'm really looking forward to experincing the beaches of Japan, lots of different onsens and at least one 'traditional summer festival' (夏祭り).
Originally I was planning for stay all the way till around 17th-19th August because of the coming Comic Market 78 (in August 13-15th). But since I didn't have enough funds for it, I settled for the same time as my friends are staying in Japan. Even then I have 3½ weeks to make the summer of 2010 one of the most memorable ever!
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