KReeP in JAPAN

Comiket!

2009-08-14T04:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I spent the morning in Hiroshima. Saw the Memorial Hall for Atomic Bomb Victims, and then checked out Hiroshima's downtown.... in the rain... Then took the Shinkansen (bullet-train) back to Tokyo (4hrs). I was pretty exahusted. Got up early to go to Comiket (Comic-market, the biggest comic convention in the world!) down in Odaiba, Tokyo. I stood in a crazy ass line for 2 hours to get in... (still beat Anime Expo in Long Beach). It would take several days to look at everything here. I ended the day by walking between the legs of a 1/1 scale Gundam. This is pretty much and Otaku's dream-land!

Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima...

2009-08-12T03:08:00.000-07:00

So the first couple of nights back in Japan I stayed in Tokyo, at a capsule hotel. (The youth hostels were all booked.) Ran to Ueno, to exchange my cash I brought, and took care of the details for the next week.

I took the night bus to Kyoto, that was an adventure in and of it's self. Went to Inari and climbed though thousands and thousands of tori gates until I reached the top. Next day I checked out some temples and the Imperial Palace, then went to Osaka.

Saw the Osaka Castle, and the Umeda Sky building, then checked out downtown (huge). Took the night bus to Hiroshima. Where I checked out the Hiroshima Castle and the Hiroshima Peace Park/Memorial Museum. That's where I am now.

I'm a horrible blogger...

2009-08-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, I admit it. I suck at blogging. So let's recap the last several months:
May 3rd, returned from Japan to the US, Los Angeles, California. No job, no home, and pretty broke. First day back got a parking ticket, discovered a lots of people were saying I owed them money for stuff that should have been taken care of months ago, and that my "back-up" credit card has been cancelled... Fortunately I had some good friends, who were there to help me out. I discovered new levels of how to stretch a dollar. Did some crazy stuff to make some quick cash, and now I'm back! August 6th, I have returned to Japan.

It was fun being back in LA for a while. I got to see just about everyone again. Went to some cool, cozy little parties. Spent some time with family that I have not done for a long, long while.

I still have several videos in the works from the last trip to post up eventually, but for now, it's time to explore. =)

Maybe I'll be better at blogging this time.... maybe....

Kanamara Matsuri

2009-04-15T23:03:00.000-07:00

(This is out of chronological order for the trip, but it's just too funny not to post up. =)

A Ri-dic-ulously fun festival, The Kanamara Matsuri. "Festival of the Steel Phallus", or just "The Penis Festival". Do I really need to say more?

(Go here and watch it in "HQ", tons better!)

Picture slide-show here.

More info./history here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanamara...

Fun time. Nobody trying to push agendas, nobody being a-holes, everyone just being dorks!

PS- Is it just me or is there something rather attractive about a Asian girl w/ a British-English Accent? I think I'm gonna have to start copping a fake accent when I teach them English...

Sendai & Sakunami

2009-04-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, here are pictures from days five & six of my trip (yes, I've been here 2 and a half months already... I'm a procrastinator, get used to it.)

I've compiled them into a video form:

( Go here and watch it in "HQ". Much better!)

So this these were taken about a week before Valentine's Day. In Japan the girls get chocolates for boys to show their affections, or for friends and bosses to show appreciation. Big money making day in Japan.

In Sakunami we went to an Onsen, outdoor bath. Traditionally they are from hot springs, but this one... yeah, I don 't think was traditional. Still the steam blowing around in the cold and snow, while you are toasty warm is kinda cool.

If you want a better look at the pictures go here:
Photo-slideshow

Sapporo Snow Festival

2009-02-28T07:01:00.000-08:00

The 60th Annual Sapporo Snow Festival:
First day of the Snow Festival and it starts snowing. Can't call it better then that.

The Nippon Ham Fighters. Goooooo Ham Fighters!!

Smokers segregation chamber.

That is my thumb at the top left, trying to shield the lense from the snow.

These people are lined up for a maze, that leads to the stage.

This is a sculpture and a slide.

Movie Promo.

Snow is coming down, and it's wet.

Kinniku-man

Domo-Kun.

Lots of food booths.

Tyler in his bright orange jacket made a great homing beacon. Easy to spot. Also acted like a target for the kids who were on a mission to grill foreigners for information. They were all numbered like racers, and carried little paper forms with the questions, in English, on them. But it was nearly impossible to write anything down as the snow was coming down hard and very, very wet. Their papers were soaked.

Keroro Gunso!

Totoro

An Ohmu from Nausicaa

Year of the Cow. Lot's of cows around.

Anpan-man riding... a cow.

And a monkey... riding corn?

I missed the Potato song... almost recorded it. Po-Ta-To!... ah, too bad...

Snow Queens

Astroboy (or Tetsuwan Atom) by the US Navy...
Seriously!? That's the best you can do Navy!?
Gah, making me ashamed to be an American...

Doraemon

Totoro again

Domo-kun again

Shirley had to get an umbrella, her Jacket was getting soaked.

Robot from Laputa

Foreign section was still mostly under construction...

Then we returned at night time:
The snow had lightened up a bit, and it looked like they'd swept some of the snow off the scultures. well, at least the big ones.

The Sapporo Tower, marks the beginning of the Snow Festival trail.

In the smoker's chamber. Black lungs, courtesy of Alaska.

This crowd is gathered for the ski slope on the other side where snow borders are doing tricks.

Finland still working away. I love the hats!

This is "Relax-bear" (Rilakkuma), not Deaddy Bear, as I was calling it.

This makes me happy. =D

Mr. Donut

Stitch.

lots of food booths.

"What 'chu looking at?"
"You dragging your kid in a sled." Heh...

There were also some scultures going down the middle of streets. These were taken the night before an weren't lit up. I'm sure there is probably some other stuff we missed too.

I took a lot more pictures of the various sculptures, if you want to check them out:
http://picasaweb.google.com/TheMutantPenguin/YukiMatsuri#

Sapporo Beer Factory

2009-02-28T06:25:00.000-08:00

Sapporo Beer. I'm not much of a beer drinker, but when in Sapporo...

The Sapporo Beer factory:

The Sapporo Beer Museum:
On display were bottles from the biginning to current day.

"The Traditional Art of Beer Making":

So apparently, magic flying monkeys drain a cloud...

Then they haul the buckets they collected across a mystical river...

Where they ferment it in some factory...

Then take it to Gingerbread land where they fill up a large fountain with it, that they swim in...

Yeah.... I don't think they are taking this serously...

Cute receptionist. (I got a thing for hats...)
Big vat.

Beer of the FUTURE!

Downstairs you can get beer from the tap!

I liked the chairs.

SPACE BEER!- No seriously, it's true!

Souvenir Shop.

Polar Bear drink, had to try it (for Lisa!) It was pretty generic clear soda.

I <3 Sapporo

2009-02-27T11:03:00.000-08:00

Feb. 4, 2009. We arrive in Sapporo:

Back in Sapporo! Yay!
This was the first place I stayed when I went to Japan back in 1991, almost 17 years ago (wow...). So Sapporo kinda feels like my hometown in Japan. It was only for three weeks (out of six), but I remember it quite fondly. My host family was great. Very nice people. I wish I'd kept in touch with them, but I only stayed in touch with them for maybe up to a year afterwards. I'd always intended to go back and visit, but... things never seemed to go that way.
So one of my top priorities on this trip was to find my host family again and say, 'Thank you.'
Anyways, more on that later.

The First Night:
We met the Murakamis. Sally had met online and asked them to show us around.

Naoｔo, Ayako and cute little Kokoro.

They took us out to a little hidden place that was very, very good, and had all you could drink sake (until about 10:00). The bottles kept coming, and coming!

Kokoro was throwing up a 3 finger peace sign, so her father and I followed in suit.

Afterwards dinner, we said goodbye to the Murakamis, and went to see the town at night.

Another flashy McDonalds. On every major street, there will be one, or two, or five.

More cigarette vending machines, 4 in a row, just lined up for lung cancer.

Santa's still around in February? His fat butt needs some help!

Then back to our hotel rooms. Looking pretty standard.

Next morning we set out for the Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival). But that will get it's own post.
First I had to hit Starbucks though. =P

This place was Insane!

Cool!

Ayako and Kokoro met us at the Snow Festival.

We went out for Hokkaido Style ramen. Miso flavor, with scallops.

After that we said goodbye, and I set out to search for my 'homestay' host family.

My Homestay Family:
All I really had to go by was an old bussiness card to Dr. Ishimaru's dental office that I'd kept for nearly 17 years. I called and got confirmation the day before that the phone number still worked for his office. However my Japanese, and the receptionist's English, weren't really good enough to comunicate clearly.
So I headed for the address on the bussiness card.

One thing I like about Sapporo is the streets are easy to follow (North 1/East 2). So after I got to the correct streets I asked someone and the pointed me to the right building. So I got to the right floor and came into his office. After my call they were expecting me. Mr. Ishimaru greeted me and welcomed me into the back. And in a classic Gaijin (=idiot foreigner) move, I started walking back there with out taking off my shoes. "DOH!" So after horrifying all of them, and correctly putting on some slippers I walked to the back, and surprised to see that Mrs. Ishimaru was working there too.

Me and Mrs. Misuzu Ishimaru. I drew a little picture.
Mr. Ishimaru had to go back to work. But then I was surprised again that his daughter, Miyori, was working there too. Mrs. Ishimaru called her son, Koichi, who happened to have the day off, and he came down as well.

We made plans to meet for dinner, then Koichi and I then headed out, and bumped into the other sister, Tomomi, in the lobby.

Pretty random. I had managed to meet the whole family again at his office in about 45 minutes. And from what I gathered Mr. Ishimaru had actually moved his office, and had debated about opening up in a completly different area (even out of country) but then moved back. So it was really just by chance that everything worked out as it did.

Out on the Town:

6 foot tanuki, by the Tanuki King store.

There are underground Malls that go for literally miles, and miles, and miles.

Lot's of stuff that would be: A) Offensive, or B) Illegal in California.

We met up with Tyler and Shirley and went to the Sapporo beer factory. That I'll make a seperate post for too. Later we returned to see the Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival if you haven't got it by now) at night. Then out to dinner.

Toshiharu, KReeP, Misuzu, Miyori, Koichi.

Group picture.
We had a very nice meal, and in Japanese fashion, they insisted on paying for it. (Which makes you feel kinda guilty...). They also got us a cab to take us back to the train.
After all that, I think i forgot to say thanks for taking care of me 17 years ago...
So, um...
ほんとうにありがとうございました。
Thank you very much.

Week Three

2009-02-23T03:11:00.000-08:00

2/15/09-
Went to Harajuku- famous for the freakshow (people dressed crazy). Not as many out in force as I expected. Possibly because of the cold, and the fact it looked like it was gonna rain. But got some good pictures. Then checked out Yayogi park, and the greasers and 50's dancers. Big park, lots of people there practicing things, dance routines, skateboarding, acting, and lots of people showing off thier skills, like frisbie or bagpipe playing. Big dog park area too. Lot's of puppies.
Tried Couchsurfing, I'm not one who likes to depend on others, especially strangers, but Miriam and Nick made it very easy. Nice people, very welcoming. Nick and I shared similar interests, so we had plenty to talk about until late.

2/16/09-
Went to Akihabara. Yay, otaku (=nerd) central.
Stopped by Ikebukuro to have dinner w/ Kimie for a while too.

2/17/09-
Ueno- Right outside the station there are hundereds and hundreds of little flea market type booths and stores. Reminds me very much of the fashion district in LA. But cleaner.
Went into another one of the 5 storie video game parlors. Still a surprise to me to see ash trays attached to the machines. Something that is popular is card interactive games. It'd take to long to explain, I'll have to take a video of it later.
I found a nice little bread store. Along with the usual cream filled, chocolate, and assorted seafood pasteries they had - pizza. Yeah, I could go for some pizza. So with closer examination, I see my choices are 'Tuna Pizza' or 'Potato Pizza'. Hmmmmn... I went for potato. Not bad, but still... what!?

Shinjuku- Here is the real Shinjuku. Wow, it's a lot different then what I remember. Much bigger, in all directions. Maybe I didn't see the real Shinjuku before... I wonder.
The previous time when me and Tyler were here (or rather a different area) a short, stocky black man came up to us, "Hey guys, wanna have some fun w/ some pretty ladies". Essentially pimp'n for a strip club or massage parlor. Japanese called them 'Kyakuhiki' ("customer pullers"). Anyways, this time I was approached by two more short black guys. I wonder what is up w/ that!? Also 2 asian guys, one older and one younger. They're quite persistant. They must get some kind of commission off that, I'll have to ask next time.

2/18/09-
Checked out Roppongi at night. Nice big mall there, have to come back when it's light outside. Went to the Tokyo Tower. Took lots of pictures, and videos (which came out better). Then checked out the street famous for the clubs. The streets were lined w/ 'Kyakuhiki'. No kidding, one block had 20 black guys (not all short and stalky this time) standing around waiting to harass gaijin (=white guys/foreigners) to come to their clubs. Just down that street I had 4 of them come up to me, the others would back off when they saw another one w/ you. I was gonna pop out my camera and interview one of them, but my battery was almost dead after Tokyo tower. Plus I was getting ratherr annoyed by them. Buy the time I left I was approached by no less then 8 very persistent 'Kyakuhiki', in roughly a 30 minute period of time. I also stopped in at the famous Gaspanic. It was... small. And dead, 9:00pm and maybe 10 people in the bar!? Not a good night for clubbing I guess.

2/19/09-
Saw Shibuya. Said 'hello' to Hachiko (famous dog statue).
Got an over priced cup of coffee at a 3 lvl Starbucks (I mean overpriced even for Starbucks).
Tried a 'Freshness Burger'... meh.

2/20/09-
Went to Chiba that to meet TkyoSam. (A Youtube Video blogger, that blogs about life in Japan. My buddy Danny turned me on to those blogs right before I left. Lot's of usefull information, and fun stuuf on his videos.) His friend Asuka joined us too, and we went to a Karoke Bar. Asuka has some pipes. Then Sam and I went to get some Kaiten (carousel Sushi) at SushiRo. Only 100円　a plate. That's crazy cheap, and it was good! Good time.

2/21/09-
Went to Shizuoka. This is the city you go to when you want to climb mout Fuji. But this time a year it's only open to wxperienced mountain climbers, with equpiment. So I checked ou the city, park, and went to prime locations (biuldings) for taking pictures of mount Fuji- all closed! What kinda bum deal is that? So left that, went back to the Annex, where they were having a DJ party.

2/22/09-
Last day of my JR Pass. So I went to Himeji. Took lots of pictures of the famous Himeji-jo castle. Then met Hanako, from the LA Japanese Language Meet-up Group, in Nakano, Tokyo. She took me to a mall that is just set up for otaku (fanatic-nerds).

2/23/09-
Went to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo. Cool little museum, especially if you like seeing preproduction work for anime films. They have a small section that shows history of animation, there is also a 'Petite Louvre', that has reproductions of paintings from the Lovures (why I don't know, but it's interesting...) They played a short films about a waterspider. Looks like they have six different ones that change each week.

That's the end of week three. I've been staying at a backpackers hostel in Asakusa, Tokyo (think overcrowded college dormitory, bunk beds and all). Will probably stay here a while longer.
My sightseeing will probably be limited to once or twice a week now, but there is lots to see in and around Tokyo.

Nara-Tokyo

2009-02-14T04:13:00.000-08:00

Stayed in Nara last night, then visited Nara's Park today. A deer ate my map!
Then I headed back to Tokyo, where I am now. This is the end of the two week grand tour of Japan. From here on out it's gonna be a little more localized. I plan to be here in Tokyo for a bit, and check out Akibahara, Roppongi, Shinjuku (again) and all the big areas. Hopefully I get some down time to finish uploading all those pictures too.

Takamatsu-Kurashiki

2009-02-12T16:40:00.001-08:00

Hmn... blogger doesn't like my prewritten scripts, so I'm gonna have to start from scratch on the blogs. Which will take a while.
But you can see the pictuures I've uploaded here:
The Sapporo Snow Festival-
http://picasaweb.google.com/TheMutantPenguin/YukiMatsuri#
The Sapporo Beer Factory-
http://picasaweb.google.com/TheMutantPenguin/SapporoBeer#

Shirley and I left Nagasaki yesterday, and went to Takamatsu. Spent some time there, then moved on to Kurashiki to spend the night. Shirley wanted to head back to Tokyo early and I wanted to see Nara, so we said our goodbyes last night. Now I'm on my own. Today I'm headed to Nara.

Nagasaki

2009-02-11T13:50:00.000-08:00

Spent the night Nagasaki. Saw the Nagasaki A-bomb museum. Stood at the 'hypocenter' in the peace park. Then saw Nagasaki's Chinatown.
My stomach still feels pretty bad, I may have got a bit of a stomach flu, so I didn't go crazy trying different and unusual foods.

Hiroshima-Miyajima

2009-02-10T14:15:00.000-08:00

Spent last night in Hiroshima. I was sick as a dog, I had some bad Okonomiyaki and was throwing up all night. Not fun, so didn't get anything done.
The Hiroshima dome building was closed, under reconstruction. So that was kind of a bummer. So we went to Miyajima. Lots of interesting stuff there.
I'm in staying in Hakata now. Will head to Nagasaki tonight.

Pictures update!

2009-02-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

Pictures for Aomori and Hakodate are up(days 2-3)!!! As promised, lots of pictures.
So be patient, more are coming.

WHERE ARE THE PICTURES?

2009-02-08T05:39:00.000-08:00

Yes, yes, I got behind. Everything is fine.... mostly. The first night in Sapporo was a long one. After that we spent the night and slept on the train to Sakanami. Spent the night in Sakunami, with no internet connection, then headed back to Tokyo. The hotel in Tokyo had a outlet that my adaptor didn't fit. It takes two small prongs instead of one smaller, one bigger. So I could only update as long as my battery lasted... which wasn't long. Tonight- everything is good, recharging everything.

Now I'm in Kyoto. I took some pictures of Temples and such. More later.

Back to Tokyo

2009-02-07T06:53:00.000-08:00

Back in Tokyo. Visited Odaiba. More pictures to come.

Green Green

2009-02-07T06:49:00.000-08:00

After Snow Festival in Sapporo we slept on the train. We stopped in Sendai and then we went on to hotel Green Green. Lots of pictures to come.

Hakodate, on the way!

2009-02-04T09:48:00.000-08:00

Hakodate:

We stopped at Hokodate on our way to Sapporo, for about 4 1/2 hours.

The Hakodate smoker's internment camp.

Train station coin lockers are a life saver! All the train/subway stations have them.

We locked our stuff up then went off to see the town.

Hotel for Loisirs, right near the station.

Make sure you keep your statues warm!

They have 7-11's (and Holdings) in Japan.

A happy looking Kindergarten.

California Baby! Serving only the best... Hill's Brothers.

Fish Market! Plenty of fresh fish, squid, you name it! And lots of free samples!

Live fresh squid!

A whole street of fresh seafood!

Huge live crabs… angry crabs!

Atrocities against nature!
This store sells whale! Yes, I ate whale.

This is Whale soup. Mostly, just fat.

This little fried stuff is the real meat. The way it was prepared it tasted like pork. The kind you have with sweet and sour pork.
They have pamplets that explain how it's not atrocious or inhumane, but that kind of takes the fun out of it. Here are websites from the pamplets:
http://www.whaling.jp/english/index.html
http://www.e-kujira.or.jp/

They have regular size cars, and then baby sized.

Here we have a shot of a Supervillian’s Lair up at the top of this remote village.

Squid boats, that have lanterns to attract the squid.

Red brick wearhouses.

Evil Clown Ice cream.

The Oriental kitchen. In Japan that means hot dogs, sandwiches, and plate foods!?

After this we went temple hunting.

Up, and up, and up ice covered stairs.

Short Recess

Catholic and Russian Churches were here too.

Quite a view from up the hill. Water on both sides of the city.

Now we head to Sapporo, and the Snow Festival!

Next stop Aomori

2009-02-03T13:34:00.000-08:00

One last shot of Shinjuku from the window of my room, 11th floor of the Sunroute hotel.(Room price 7,500円, roughly $80.00)

Shirley joined us on the 2nd day. Then we left Shinjuku (on the Shinkansen 'Bullet train'), and headed for Aomori.

I've got lots of video from the train. Going from the big city to the little towns, scenery going from green to white. But frankly it'd be really boring unless I editied it down- a lot. So when I
learn how to do that...

Aomori:

Aomori, Aomori, what can you say about Aomori? Most of the town seems to close down before 6:00pm.

The town looks like it’s geared towards being a ‘wedding’ town, with such places as: The Alaska Wedding Plaza!

Because when you think of Alaska, of course you think of getting married, in the freezing cold, wet, slushy snow.

These little logos, the cat eating its young, are the Japanese equivalent of FedX.

Barbershops want to make sure you know it’s a barbershop, so they usually don’t just have one pole but 3, 5, or 10…

The intersections here usually had traffic go all 4 directions first, then traffic stops, and all walkways open, including diagonally across the streets. They had little lights that clocked down how long you had to wait too.

Good ole vending machines even out in the snow, working hard. They’re pretty thin too. Most are only about a foot and a half wide/ deep. The Black (Lung) Impact machine is full of cigarettes.

We had to take a right at the Koban, or ‘Police Box’, to go to the Post Office (where they have ATM’s to get foreign currency). The police cars here are intimitading!

We hit the shopping mall. Had some… interesting things. There was a big arcade/photo booth area.

Tyler Banging on the Taiko!

This would be racist if it wasn’t Asia!

Umbrellas in the snow. I should go back to Alaska and try to sell that concept!

We had a nice authentic Japanese dinner. Still felt a little surreal.

Tanuki statue! Just add salt!?

The correct position for the Japanese traditional squatting toilet.

Night view from the Aomori Tourist Tower. It's shaped like a Christmas tree and the lights change colors(I have video of it I could upload later.)

The hotel room was pretty close to the size of the one in Shinjuku, but half the price.

And that’s it for Aomori. Next Stop, Hakodate!

Shinjuku

2009-02-02T14:28:00.001-08:00

Midnight run through Shinjuku.
It's about 11:00pm on a Monday night, and the place is pretty happen'n.
The ever so famous Shinjuku street:

Apparently Shinjuku is Host Club central:

One street down from the main street was a street lined w/ male Host Clubs. (A male Host Club is basically 'Hooters' for women. A 'pretty' guy will come over, sit down, talk w/ and flirt w/ a lady while convincing her to buy overpriced food and drinks.)

There were female Host clubs, and 'message parlors' too. But the winner:

'American & British Club Honky Tonk Ladies'
They club them? No, a club for them! But what sells it is the ape in the American flag boxers. If King Kong likes it, it's gotta be good!!!

For some reason it seems like they're trying to keep Christmas alive all year round. There are trees w/ lights everywhere.

The Japanese always seem to be taking pictures of their meals.
Why!? I don't know. But while in Japan...

A bowl of ramen, my first meal in Japan (650円, roughly $7.00).
It was good, but not much different then what you'd get back home.
Oh, I mean, "It's was he greatest bowl of Ramen ever! Nothin' like you could get in America!!"

24hr, 3 floor, McDonalds.
1st floor is for ordering your meals, second floor, for sitting down, eating, reading the newspaper, etc. The 3rd floor, I felt an air of seriousness up there! Everyone had laptops out and were studying intensely, or crashed out in some corner to catch some Z's.

America isn't the only place having hard economic times. Where as places are advertising their $1 menus in America, Japan is advertising the 100円 menus. I didn't see any Shrip Burgers though... darn it.

Vending Machines:

They're everywhere! Two of the shelves are all different brands of coffee.

Hot coffee out of a vending machine. How cool is that!?!

Alright, that's all for tonight...

The Eagle has landed!

2009-02-02T04:52:00.000-08:00

Feb. 1st, 2009, 11:00am.
Arrived as recommended, 2 hours early, at LAX airport.
I'm joined by Tyler, who I'll be with the first week, and then Sally.
Sally organized the trip but unfortunately wasn't able to go, but she came to see us off.

Tyler, Sally & me.

My plane. Singapore Air.

The dirty looking area w/ exposed metal on the tail did not inspire a lot confidence in me for this airline... @_@

But I survived!
Arrived in Japan about 12 hours later.
Going through Customs was fairly painless, except that the paperwork requests the address and phone number of where you are staying. All I had was the Japanese printout from the hotel (which has way too many kanji for me to read), but at least I had that printout. That was enough for them to at least help me do it. They had me fill out claim forms, but didn't physically check my bags.

After checking my bags we were met by Sally's dad, Yoshimichi Irokawa, who said he'd be our guide in Tokyo in Sally's stead. He made a sign just for us. =)

Racial Profiling Begins...
After that we began to head downstairs to exchange our JR Railpasses. we came to an escalator, and I had my stuff on a cart, so I stopped to take the stuff off the cart and carry it down the escalator. Some strange "gaijin"(foreigner)doing this is apparently enough to garner the attention of Airline security. Not even in Japan an hour, and I'm getting questioned by the police! SWEET! Damn, I wish I had a picture of that! I'll have to re-enact it later!
Anyways they looked at my passport, and Sally's dad came over and spoke to them on my behalf. Fun times, fun times. =P

Riding the train.
It's surprising that they have English announcements for the trains, and that almost everything is subtitled in English. Makes it so much easier for us!

Waiting for the train.

Surprising the photo-taker!

Then we at last have arrived at our destination. Getting from the Narita airport to Shinuku,Tokyo, took about 2 hours itself.
Here is a map:

Hotel Room
Finally arrived at the Hotel. Hotel Sanroute in Shinjuku.
The room is kinda tiny, but more then adequate for me.

To turn on your light you put your room card in the slot, and you leave it in there as long as you want the lights on. Took me a couple minutes to figure that one out. heh. =P

There is and internet connection available in the room. Very convenient.
Also you can see I have an adapter for the outlet as most places have only 2 prong outlets. Not three.

So now that I'm settled in, time to go out and explore Shinjuku...

Last night in the USA!

2009-01-31T14:11:00.000-08:00

For my last night, my friends (who I met through the LA Japanese Language Meet-up) threw a Bon Voyage/Happy Birthday party for me. Starting off with Karaoke and then a very nice dinner at a little Japanese place in West LA (which was very very good.)

KReeP-e guy

Bill & Caren

Miho & Mitsue

The back end of the table.

Me and Omar

Group photo!　Thanks everyone, it was a great time!
ほんとうにありがとう、みなさん。

[Karaoke! Sorry guys, these videos are too funny not to post... =P]

Are your ears bleeding yet? =)

SUCK!!!-SWEET!!!

2009-01-31T09:11:00.001-08:00

Alright. So I was playing around w/ my new camera that I got for the trip, and I took this photo of my truck:

This will now be known as the "Before" photo.

30 minutes later, it looked like this:

Tiny bits of glass were everywhere:

What happened? Well, to make a long story short, let's just say no matter how short of a distance you are traveling w/ a pressure washer in the back of your truck - tie it down!!!

SUCK!!! 4 days before I have to move out of my house and I leave for Japan... yeah, I was not a happy camper. Really didn't need this waste of time...

However the positive side is that my auto insurance (USAA) covered it with no charge, and set someone up to come out to my house to repair it.

Less then 36 hours later, it was back to normal. ~SWEET!!!
I really can't express how happy I am w/ USAA and SafeLite Auto-glass (and Manuel, nice guy). They did a good, quick job. Now back to the packing and stressing!

KReeP in JAPAN

2009-01-25T20:03:00.001-08:00

It's adventure time!!!
That's right I'm going to Japan.
For 5 weeks, from February 1st to March 7th.
I'm leaving my home and job to do it too.
Yup, I'm crazy!

Unfortunatley, is not a cheap thing to do right now.
It's 89¥ to the dollar right now, ouch.
The cheapest plane ticket I could find was on Singapore Air. ($780)
I also invested in the JR Railpass for three weeks, Green Car ($860), which I've been told is essential for touring on the railways in Japan. (Green Car = First Class)

Also I investing in some toys, and other necessities for travel:

My Laptop ($650), and my coffee~ yum!

My laptop and a 12cell extended-life battery ($129), a 1TB external hard drive ($129), my new Fuji Finepix J10 Camera ($99). [Plus 2 SD memory cards for it ($12x2),and an extra rechargable battery ($29)]

I found a 7 piece luggage set for $80.00. I'll only use about half of it, but still, it's a pretty good deal. And a nice big back pack, with lots of pockets ($60). [I made a real nice stencil to spray paint my name on my luggage, but the spray paint sucked so it didn't come out so great. I'll have to fix that later...]

So what am I out now: $1640 trip + $1060 toys + $140 luggage = $2840
That's not including the hotels and other expenses yet...