Wakamatsu Honten

On Monday, after getting of the bullet train I made my way over to Narita, which was another long train ride I didn't need. Especially since it was spot the Gaijin with all his luggage on the train :D Anyway I eventually made it to Narita and had no idea where I was, so I eventually called my hotel and they were so nice as to send over a car to pick me up. They were so nice. I stayed at the Wakamatsu Honten in a more traditional style room with a dinner and breakfast included. 

This was only part of dinner. I don't have a shot of the rest, but with the rice to come and another dish for dessert I was really impressed, and full. And then I slept on a futon, which I hadn't done before.

In the morning breakfast was a repeat affair, but down in the main dining hall. Then I had to leave, but I had heaps of time to waste, so after leaving my bags at the hotel, and knowing I had to be back by 3pm or I wouldn't have any baggage cause the hotel was closing for the rest of the day cause they had no guests, I set off to see a bit of Narita.

And then it started raining :( These are some shots of the Naritasan Temple which was right beside my hotel. From here I caught a city loop bus to the Aeon Narita Shopping Center.

I bought some candy and a bottle of Alcohol at the shopping center, but unfortunately I accidently broke the bottle when I went to place it on the ground outside the shopping center and it kinda fell a bit and broke :( Luckily it wasn't too expensive and I had a fun time trying to dispose of it.

I then caught the bus back to the hotel, but the city loop wasn't really a city loop so I made it to the end of the line, then had to start again from that spot (the driver was kind enough to help me out). I made it back to the hotel on time, caught a taxi to the airport and whiled away several hours there, and some cash, before getting on the plane.

The flight back was good. Got some sleep, had some drinks and food, and tried to not get too annoyed at the two idiot old people in the row in front of me. Luckily cause I was in business class I had the seat beside me empty (everyone was either paired up with someone they know or trying to sit alone) so I chillaxed a bit.

Got back to Cairns, walked a marathon between the International and Domestic airports, waited there several more hours for my flight, which was luckily not delayed but several others were, and then got back to Townsville.

What a trip. So worth it and a very enlightening experience. 

Hakodate

On Thursday (17th) I headed to Hakodate in Hokkaido. I went by bullet train, which was an experience. To get to Hokkaido from Honshu (the island that has Tokyo in it) you have to pass underwater. At the lowest point of the tunnel you are 140 metres underground. Not a whole lot to see, but apparently you can get off the train in the tunnel and go to a sightseeing spot. Though my brief look online about this has turned up nothing. You can learn more about the tunnel here though: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikan_Tunnel

So I got to Hakodate okay, and getting off the train and walking into the station this is what greets travellers. It's a giant mural that depicts the some of the history of the city. I initially thought you could pull out the blocks and rearrange them, but you can't :(

So Thursday night Josiah came over to my hotel and we went out to get some local cuisine. Thanks Jo for the help during my stay, much appreciated bro. We went to a restaurant that served some seriously awesome Katsu-don. Then we went around town for abit. I got shown Goryokaku Park, which wasn't open, but alot of people use the track around it as a exercise spot. Also we went to the gaming building called Pabots. A lot of people like Pachinko in Japan. 

Not much else really happened except we got on the wrong tram and thus missed the last tram of the night, meaning we had to walk all the way back to my hotel. I think it was about an 1hr and a half walk. Bloody hell, won't make that mistake again.

I should mention here that after making it back to my hotel Thursday night I got talking to the guy at reception, Hideaki, and he recommended some places to visit while in Hakodate. About 2 hours later I eventually made it to sleep.

Friday I chilled out for most for most of the day (tired) and that night Jo took me over to Sushimaru. At this place all the dishes are 120 yen each, and damn the sushi was good. I got to rummage through a store called Book Off. Such a good store - so many books, CDs, and DVDs. And then I met the rest of the overseas crew studying at the university that are staying in the dorm. Damn it's hard to remember names, but after a few drinks I called it quits and attempted to ride back to the hotel on a bicycle.

Jo lent me his bike and I didn't have any accidents riding back :)

So on Saturday I decided to make use of the borrowed bike and the knowledge Hideaki gave me and I went sightseeing in Hakodate. First I went to Cape Tachimachi. In the picture above and below you can see the main island of Honshu (cool).

And this is the city of Hakodate from the cape.

This is the poem monument to Yosano Hiroshi and Yosano Akiko.

It was a good ride to the cape and quite a nice view.

I then went up a path that would lead me all the way to Myoshin-ji Temple, and if I abandoned the bike, the Mt. Hakodate Observatory House, but I went back down the path and back along my path to the cape, and wound up at the Hachimangu Shrine. 

There wasn't much action at the shrine on Saturday, but it was very peaceful and the scenery was nice.

I then went along to Hakodate Park where there is a museum, an amusement park and these two memorials (above and below).

Cherry Blossom trees.

And a nice little waterfall and stream.

After that I went down to the Waterfront Warehouses, checked out some shops and bought some souvenirs and sweets. I then went back to the hotel for lunch, but I couldn't stay still for long cause I wanted to go back to Goryokaku Park when it was open, so back on the bike and off to the park I went.

When I got there, and since it was a Saturday) there were quite a few people about. I went and checked out one of the main attractions of the park which is the reconstructed Hakodate Magistrate's Office. Very nice.

And this is the moat that surrounds the whole park.

Some boats at the park.

And some old cannons at one of the buildings near the park. I think this building was the Museum of Art, but I think I'm wrong.

So that was the sightseeing on Saturday, but then that left the night, and once again Jo took me out for some local food. This time we went to Lucky Pierrot, which is a restaurant that specialises in burgers, and alot of the younger generation goes there. Naturally we tried the signature dish which was the Hakodate-yama burger, which to me was three burgers stacked on top of eachother and was sooooo good :) and then dessert was from Chouette Cacao. So nice, such good food. Why I have to leave?

So after the exhausting ride that was Saturday I pushed through the minor pain of some muscles I hadn't used in a while and went to the Mt. Hakodate Observatory House. I had wanted to go at night, but I ended up going during the day. The shot above is the view from the cable car going up to the observatory.

And these are some shots from the observatory.

Sundial at the observatory.

And this was my hotel from the train station as I was leaving.

Hakodate was awesome. It felt very much like Townsville. Good to see Jo in real life again. Food was good (too good actually) and it was a nice relaxing bookend to my trip. From here I caught a train back to Tokyo then onto Narita where I spent my last night.

So on Wednesday I needed to book my train tickets to Hakodate (in Hokkaido) and then do whatever I wanted. I knew I had to get some shots of the city so I went back to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices. Here's the outside.

And these next shots are from inside out. The only problem with the shots is that it was still overcast so I couldn't see Mount Fuji from here. Oh and if you see some strange artefacts in the pics, its the reflection from the glass.

This is some art inside the buildings main foyer.

And some bonsai plants on display.

Before we move onto other stuff though I must make note of something that happened during my trip to the offices. So, in Shibuya I bought myself an umbrella ($6 clear umbrella that most everyone seems to have in Tokyo). On my trip up the first tower I got to the first window, put down my bag and umbrella, took out my camera, picked up my bag and started taking shots. It wasn't until I got to the other side of the floor that I realised I did not have my umbrella. So I went back to where I started and it was still there. Phew.

I went up the second tower and then repeated the process, followed by me chastising myself for doing the same thing twice. I know have an umbrella I lost twice in Tokyo in the space of about 10 minutes.

And now onto something that I know a few people will think is cool. I went back to Akihabara in the afternoon and promptly found the Kotobukiya in a side alley where they had various electronic stores and maid/cosplay cafes. For those that don't know, Kotobukiya do some very awesome collectibles for movies and games, hence I was very excited to find it. On the top floor (3rd or 4th floor, I can't remember) they had the showroom. I was able to take photos so here's everything they had in the showroom.

Awesome stuff.

This was my last day in Tokyo, with Thursday (tomorrow) being my train ride to Hakodate to visit my friend Josiah and see something other than cityscapes.