舞妓さん

こちらへエリカの舞妓変身写真でございます。よろしくお願いします。

Kekekeke DEER RUSH!

Osaka Castle, Shitennoji, and Sumiyoshi Taisha, with special guests Komatsu Maki and her sisters Izumi and Ai

Yesterday was all sorts of busy. We took an early day so we could fit in everything we had planned. Just up the street from our hotel is Osaka Castle (大阪城). I find it serendipitous to come to Osaka and to visit the castle considering I had written so much about it during my first term here. It was built in the early 17th century shortly after Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified Japan. After his death, Tokugawa Ieyasu laid siege to the castle for years until Hideyoshi's son, Hidenori, and his mother committed suicide. Razed to the ground, Tokugawa ordered it rebuilt. That incarnation lasted some forty years before lighting struck the tower and it burned down...again.

A word on Osaka Castle: the complex is HUGE. And beautiful. I took an entire card's worth of photos <3

After that, it was off to Shitennoji Temple, which also was a large complex. There was a bit of a flea market happening, so I perused and got myself a second obiage for my kimono, just in case. For $5, it was worth it. I also was able to acquire a pair of shirts for me and Michael <3 I figured, since I am in the land of the Tigers...<3 At Shitennoji, we were able to climb to the top of the funerary pagoda and look over the entire complex. It was breathtaking.

Finishing up the day, we took a cable-car to Sumiyoshi Taisha, which was built in the fifth year of Taisho (5 years after Emperor Meiji's death, to give you an idea). Another very large, but very, very beautiful complex. I couldn't stop taking pictures in this area, and I started fiddling with black and white settings at that point. This shrine was dedicated to Inari, the fox-deity of prosperity and agriculture.

Worn out and beat, we start the trek home when I get messages from Maki and we arrange to meet up for dinner along with her sister :) What I wasn't expecting was all of her sister's, one's husband, and another's friend. It was great to have such a large party, and just to see Maki again, I was so happy. Much yakitori was eaten, beer was drank, and kanpai's were had.

As suspected, Maki is working for her father's paper company, and she's doing well and looking great. She's bummed about her Japanese not being up to par (her sister's make jabs) and she feels her English is slipping. I told her, she can use Japanese and English with me anytime she needs the help :) Maki also gave me a simple gift of Hello Kitty pencils, with my name in hiragana engraved into them as well as soybean-powder cookies ;~; It was unexpected, and I felt bad for not having had the time to have gotten her anything.

We're doing dinner again on Thursday.

I'll get her something by then, I'm sure of it. Anywho, today we're off to Ise. Need to go say 'hello' to Amaterasu!

おきに！

このにちは～！もっかりまっか？今、大阪にいますよ！

Greetings from Osaka! We got in a little over an hour ago and we are relaxin' in our hotel in the Tennouji District, right next door to Uehonmachi Station. We checked out of Kyoto earlier, and we made it to Osaka via Shinkansen ($13!) It was not without it's foibles, as when we got off the Shinkansen, we still had to take a subway line to our hotel, and somewhere along the way...my camera fell off my backpack.

Let me reiterate that.

My $300 Fujifilm S1000fd digital camera, 2 1gb XD cards, extra rechargeable batteries...fell off my backpack.

I was freaking the fuck out. If not for Dan, I probably would have gone crazy. But thanks to some very helpful Station People, we found our way to the Station Master's office where they had my camera!

True Story: If this happened in the United States, I would not have seen it again. However, since I am in Japan, things tend to get turned in.

Color me happy.

So, to Mr. Hirose Tadashi, who found my camera and turned it into the station master...

おきに！

(That's Kansai-Ben for Thank You :3)

Welcome to Kansai!

Arrived in Kyoto last night. Finished my Maiko glamour shots a little while ago. Will post them ASAP. Visited Yasaka Shrine, Heian Shrine, Kiyomizu Temple, and Kodaiji Temple. Might fit in Fushimi Inari Taisha, but doubtful :< Tomorrow it's off to Osaka! Go Hanshin Tigets!

Now, food and sleep!

The Recap pt. 2

A continuation of my week review with Michael :3

Mar. 5 - Climbed Mt. Takao with Stewart, Josh, and Rhiannon. It took us three hours this time, but we had so much fun in doing so. Lots of video, lots of pictures, and many lulz along the way. Then we headed to Shinjuku for dinner and attempted a few geocaches which literally had us walk from Shinjuku to Yoyogi, into Shibuya and then back to Shinjuku and still never found the damn caches. We think they all got sanitized :(

Mar. 6 - We had planned to head out to Kamakura to see the Daibutsu and the ocean while we were there (as well as the many, many shrines of Kamakura) but since the weather was so disagreeable this week, it was cold, windy and rainy as all hell, it would not have been fun to walk out in that at all. So we decided to stay local and shopped in Akihabara instead :3

March 7: Went to ICU's campus so Mike could see where I lived. We also got my final grades which made me a sad panda, but at least I passed. We toured the grounds, took photos, and I explained a lot of things to him which made me feel great and useful :3

March 8: ...Ultimate day of sadness. After a day of picking up last minute gifts, we take the slow train to Narita and sit in the airport, talking until Michael has to board. Then the tears never end ;~;

I miss him so much now :(

The Recap

Now that I have recovered from the past week of sheer awesome, I will attempt to recap all that occurred, in chronological order!

Feb. 28 - A 4 P.M. arrival turns into a 10 P.M. arrival. Both me and Michael are exhausted and end up missing our check-in at the hotel due to the delay and on top of that, had to take the local (read: SLOW) trains to Ueno from Narita because after he was through customs and all that jazz, the Limo-Bus' were no longer running and neither was the Skyliner.

After a very long ride to Ueno, we have to seek out a hotel for that night since we can't go to our Ryokan until the next morning, and we find one in Ueno, burning through ~$100 for one night at Hotel Kinuya due to United Airline's stupidity. We take shower, bath (ofuro~), and crawl into bed wiped out from the day.

Mar. 1- Up bright and early, we quickly pack up everything for morning check out. Armed with luggage and a GPS, we decide to walk from Ueno to our ryokan in Asakusa. Word to the wise: do NOT wear heeled boots =_=; by the time we got to Toukaisou, my feet were killing me, and we weren't finished there. Due to not arriving at the proper time the day before, Mike was unable to exchange money, and since it was the weekend, there were no banks open save for ATMs -- no go there. Thus, we had to go to a Travelex in Akihabara to exchange money, and that in of itself was an adventure considering it's not "next" to the Yodobashi Camera like we thought it was, but in a side plaza that even made the GPS go "WTF mate?"

Money exchanged, we hightail it back to Asakusa to pay for hotel and to get settled in (and for me to switch shoes) and we go off on an adventure for food. I believe we did Coco-Ichi for delicious curry. Then it was wandering around Akiba until we headed back and crawled into bed.

Mar. 2 - TOKYO DISNEYLAND! What a fun day was had! After 23 years, I finally made it to a Disney themepark after coming so close to Disneyworld on two separate occasions. So much freaking fun and nostalgia. I got teary eyed a few times inside, especially when the first song I hear when entering the park was the theme from "Beauty and the Beast". Space Mountain, Magic Kingdom, Fantasyland, Adventureland, Westernland...I got to ride Pirates of the Caribbean finally! It was a lot of fun all things said and when we returned to Toukaisou, that is when this happened:



Followed by:



Then there was much snuggling and sleeping.

Mar. 3 - Weather turned to crap, so we decided to just stay in the general Asakusa-Ueno area and tried to do some Geocaching and Wereigo's in Ueno park only to be unsuccessful as either the caches were sanitized or were difficult multi-caches. Did 250-yen lunch boxes and later went out with Corey and Maya to a bar in Ginza before turning in for the night.

Mar. 4 - Adventures in Shibuya and acquiring tickets for Ghibli, as well as having Mike experience Gyudon. Nummy nummy Gyudon. We arrived in Shibuya on the hunt for a Lawson's in order to acquire tickets for Ghibli Museum. Tickets got, we head off to Mitaka to enjoy a nice afternoon at the awesome of Ghibli museum :3

...and that's all for now. I need to continue sorting pictures and piecing everything together again.