Figjam's Epic Adventure 'The Second Coming'

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Tokyo - Day 5 Yokohama

10^th September Day 5: Yokohama.

I had been looking at the weather reports for Mount Fuji for about a week, trying to pick the best day to head up. I was planning on going on Monday (10^th) but the weather just looked really average, lots of rain and lots of clouds… Yeah probably not the best idea with shoes with no tread and not even proper waterproofed clothes, so instead I opted to go to Yokohama which is about 1 hour east of Tokyo, right on the ocean.

Yokohama is just another city, but what makes it difference is that you have the port/water just near the city and it also provides you with a great sunset over the city if you can hang around for it. Well that was exactly my plan.

I knew that I was planning on heading up to Mt. Fuji the next day (11^th September – Day 6) so my plan in Yokohama was to get some supplies and buy a head torch which would be crucial. So at first arrival to the city I cruised around checking out the local shops and just basically exploring the city, it’s a nice city just really relaxed. What I found amusing was that, in the main shopping strip, where they have all the fashion designer clothes there are several speakers placed all around the street playing really relaxing music, I loved it, it must make all the shoppers a bit more chilled out that they just spent $300 on a pair of jeans.

From the main shopping strip, I kept walking and ended up walking past the main Baseball stadium in Yokohama, the home of the Yokohama Baystars. Woo Hoo!

I would have loved to have gone to watch a game buy I was short on time, so I had to miss it… maybe another time.

On my travels in Yokohama I stumbled across the local Chinatown! So I cruised in down and around Chinatown trying to find any bits of cheap food… unfortunately it wasn't china prices… but I did manage to find some little snacks to eat.

So the sun was getting lower, and I still hadn't found a head torch. I was looking at one of the maps that are placed all around the city when a random French dude introduced himself to me. Perfect, I had someone to hang out with in Yokohama. I was telling him all about my plans to hike Mt. Fuji and he was very interested. But ill get to that later…

I eventually found a head torch which I bought for the pretty reasonable price of 1400YEN ($17AUD), and then myself and the French dude, walked along the sea to find a place to watch the sunset.

We eventually found the standard place where everyone goes to watch it and it was great, the sunset behind all the buildings which made for some great photos… Check them out!

Throughout the whole afternoon, the French guy had been telling me how keen he was to hike up Fuji, he even went to the extent of flipping a coin to see if he should go! So I wrote down all the information about where I was going to be at what times etc etc etc… but when it came to the day he didn’t show. I wasn’t that surprised, but its still annoying when someone says they will do something and they don’t bother.

But, still my time in Yokohama was amazing, great sunset got everything I needed for my Fuji hike, I was prepared.

TL;DR – Went to Yokohama watched a beautiful sunset! Planned for Fuji!

A photo between the two buildings... THERE IS THE SEA!

Ferris Wheel in Yokohama

Nice bridge in the back ground!

The port of Yokohama!

Finally made it to China Town

The Entrance gate of ChinaTown

A small temple in China Town

Yokohama Stadium

The Sun Starting to Set!

Beautiful!

Who would have thought that a sunset over a CITY would be this beautiful!

All of a sudden at 6pm, all the lights turned on!

The Ferris wheel looked amazing!

really wanted a Tri-Pod to do some long exposure shots!

Next blog MT FUJI!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Tokyo - Day 4 Yogi Park

9^th September Day – 4 Hanging out with Brad going to Yogi Park and then walked to Shibuya.

Day 4 rolled around really quickly, it was already a Sunday and the thoughts of climbing Mt Fuji were playing on my mind a little bit. I was over thinking it too much, I was almost talking my self out of it, due to the fact that the mountain was closed, and it can be quite dangerous if something goes wrong. But never mind. Sunday came along and it was a slow start to the morning Brad and I were planning on heading to Yogi park to check out some more Cosplay girls and even see some Rockabilly dudes dancing around...

So off we headed, it was a short walk from Harajuku station maybe only 5 minutes until we made it to Yogi park, it was a pretty warm and humid day and everybody was out either playing African drums and dancing around or throwing a baseball around, it was a really cool atmosphere going on. On the walk to Yogi park we heard some music from over the road where there are normally festivals going on, so Brad and I went over the bridge to check it out. It was an Indian festival! Cool!

We walked around the Indian festival for a while smelling and checking out all the nice smelling foods, what was funny, was that there was a cricket demonstration set up for the Japanese to play… I was so eager to get involved but it was only for kids so I had to hold myself back.

We bought some food and then headed on back to Yogi park to chill out there a bit longer. Once we had had enough time in Yogi park we left, but just as we were leaving we saw all the Rockabilly guys and girls dancing around to some groovy music! It was so cool, I really wanted to get involved but again, I think if I did it would have caused trouble… so again, I held myself back. But I took some photos so check them out!

From Yogi park, we walked for about 30 minutes until we got to Shibuya, Brad and I did some people watching and then he took me to the dodgy part of Shibuya. I was expecting the Yakuza or something, but it was so safe (standard). Yeah, there were a few love hotels dotted around and the odd strip club but nothing like you would get in Melbourne or Sydney.

From Shibuya we headed on back to Koenji back to Brad’s house to sleep for the night.

TL;DR: Went to Yogi park to check out the rockabilly guys, then headed to Shibuya!

Yogi Park! on a nice sunny sunday!

The rock-a-billy guys struttin their stuff!

one of the many streets in Shibuya!

Next up the beautiful sunsets of Yokohama!!!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Tokyo - Day 3 Checking Out Cosplay Girls

8^th September – Day 3 Checking out more of Shibuya then headed to Harajuku to see some Cosplay girls and visit some parks!

So the next day again, got up pretty early but still feeling the effects of jet lag which sucks big time. But in all fairness it’s a pretty big difference to fly from Helsinki to Tokyo the time difference is 5 hours! So as you can imagine its 12pm in Tokyo I wouldn't even be getting up back in Europe, but never mind, I manage.

So day 3 I spent cruising around Shibuya doing some people watching and taking photos of the surroundings. From Shibuya I caught the metro Harajuku, I swear to god, the metro in Tokyo is the most confusing metro I have ever come across, and its not just because its mostly in Japanese, but on first arrival to Tokyo it makes zero sense.

Let me give you an example. So in any other country in Europe or Australia for an example, if platform 1 travels north, then platform 2 travel’s south… Agreed?

Not in Japan, Japan has a very bizarre way of doing it, in Tokyo if Platform 1 travels north, then platform 2 also travels north, but stops at every second station or if not that then travels in a completely different direction eg: East?!

Its very weird and frustrating but after a while you just manage.

So I caught a train to Harajuku to do some more people watching and cruise around, in this area is where a lot of the Cosplay girls hang out. What is cosplay? From what I understand of it, is mostly girls dress up in costumes of maybe their favourite cartoon character or even a character of a computer game and just hang out together on a bridge just chatting and hanging out. These girls love getting their photo taken, and even though it’s weird at first to ask them, they do lots of poses and it can be quite fun. I still felt a little bit weird taking photos of them though.

The reason they do it? Well, I have read and come to the conclusion that these girls (and sometimes guys) dress up to escape their normal life, maybe they are having trouble at home or being bullied at school, for them its just an escape from reality, and if they enjoy doing it… well who cares! Good on them. I have only a few photos of the Cosplay girls, so enjoy.

Once I admired the girls on the bridge I went exploring through Meiji Jingu park. Inside this park there is a beautiful shrine and temple that you can check out for free, which I did. I also think there was a Japanese celebration going on, potentially a wedding, so I took some photos. Check them out!

After all of this, I headed back home to start my planning on Climbing Mt Fuji. It was a nice day just chilling out!

When I got back, Brad and I went out for some food and drinks, it was a nice night just pretty chilled out.
TL;DR – Headed to Shibuya, saw some cosplay girls!

Shibuya Square

Billboards and people everywhere

see the bus on the bottom right... these are everywhere playing music for advertising.

Shibuya

Now we are at Harajuku!

Meiji Jingu park!

...potential wedding?

Women in there Komodo's

So...many...people!

COSPLAY GIRLS!

Storm's a brewin...

Thanks guys...

next blog Yogi Park!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Tokyo - Day 2 Exploring Akihabara!

7^th September – Day 2: Exploring Akihabara.

So I woke fairly early considering that I had jet lag and a hangover from the night before – but today I was planning on visiting Akihabara. Akihabara is called the ‘electronic centre (street)’, I was super excited about checking all this out, as back in the day I did love a bit of computer games! I jumped off the station and was straight away greeted by these huge buildings with SEGA written all over them with lots of flashing lights and noise! Its just an assault to your senses, but I loved it!

I went to the biggest SEGA place I could find which was located on a corner and the building was at least 5 floors! 2 underground and 3 above, it was crazy!

I spent about 10 minutes watching these Japanese kids play a multiplayer game called Gundam, I had no idea what was happening, but it was just amazing watching! These kids (and adults) are so fast – its mental!

After this I cruised on upstairs where I met 2 Aussie guys, that had found a cheap flight for $400 return from Cairns airport to Tokyo, who were here for a week. It was cool, as now I had someone to hang out with! Perfect!

I cruised around with these guys all day, they were spending so much money on playing the claw games, where you put in 100yen ($1.20AUD) and you get to control a claw to pick up stuffed toys etc. These Aussie guys would have spent up to $20AUD on these games trying to win the most ridiculous stuff that you are almost better off just buying from a random shop for $5AUD. Clearly I was missing the point because these guys were loving it!

The guys took me to my first Pachinko experience as well. Pachinko is a gambling game like slots at a regular casino, but instead of just watching numbers spinning around on 3 wheels, with Pachinko you put in ‘x’ amount of Yen, and in return you get ‘x’ amount of small metal balls, so the balls end up being worth money.

I’m not exactly sure how Pachinko works, but what I assume is that when the balls fall down in the machine and they hit certain objects, it earns you points – in which points can earn you balls/money…

Walking into a Pachinko is another huge assault to your senses!

Sound – WOW, its so very loud! Like going to a rock concert and standing close to the speakers, or even similar to standing near a plane as it takes off – its crazy, I honestly don’t know how the Japanese guys don’t go deaf from all the noise.

Sight – So many flashing lights and things going on that there is no way you could relax!

Smell – the smell of smoke from cigarettes, now you can chose either a smoking or non-smoking floor but either way you can still smell the smoke!

So Pachinko was one hell of an experience!

So with the Aussie guys, we cruised around Akihabara the whole day, after seeing the Pachinko place, we went to see the Manga shops! Manga is just a type of Japanese comics. They range from all different things from Superheros all the way to straight up Porn… I wasn’t all that into it, but it was still interesting to check it all out.

As you walk around the streets of Akihabara you cant help but notice all the girls dressed up in either Maid costumes or even to some extent cosplay costumes.

The girls in the maid costumes are trying to get you into their coffee shops to get treated to coffee and cakes all served by very sexy Japanese girls in maid costumes and crazy prices. Again, it was fun to watch and check it all out, but I wasn’t all that interested in going.

It was so cool just getting involved in the atmosphere of the place watching all the people go past, and checking out all the random shops.

It was getting dark, and we were all getting a bit thirsty and hungry so we went to the Gundam café for some food and drinks… this was my first experience of the Japanese culture which I found highly amusing.

OK, so the boys wanted alcoholic beverages, whilst I was just a bit hungry so I looked over the menu and found some soup and garlic bread for a cheap price so I went up to order it.

“Hello, can I please order this” as I pointed to the menu.

“Ahh, sorry!, we only serve food at 5pm”

I looked down at my watch to see the time, it was 4.56pm…

“So…”

The Japanese waitress responded in a cheerfully manner, “please come back in 4 minutes”

“…oh, ok” I chuckled as a retuned back to my seat.

I suppose what you have to take from these is the reason why everything works in Japan has to at least by due to the fact that they take rules so seriously, so even a train running 2 minutes late, everybody is so apologetic! Its really quite bizarre!

Never mind, so 4 minutes later I ordered my Soup and Garlic Bread.

After we finished, the boys and myself headed to Shibuya to do some more people watching. Shibuya is also the home of that square where you often see in the movies – which is the most crossed junction in the world.

We found a high vantage point and watched the hundreds of people walking in all different directions as soon as the little man turned green.

It was amazing! We walked around Shibuya for a couple of hours walking down random streets and checking out random shops, but it got late and we were all tired so we headed back to our homes and had a well needed rest.

TL;DR – Checked out Akihabara, played lots of video games. Went to Shibuya and people watched, great day out!