2010-08-04 » Hiding out in Japan

Part of the reason I had sporadic access to the Internet last week is that I was travelling around Japan. It’s kind of awkward to be in Japan where you can get fast Internet everywhere, but have sucky Internet. The biggest issue I think is that I didn’t plan ahead enough. Next time I go I think I’ll just get a WiMAX dongle and use that since it seems to be available everywhere now. But hearing about my problems accessing the Internet is probably not as exciting as just looking at some pictures from Japan, so I’ll post a few selected pictures here of some stuff I saw this trip.

First, Kyoto. My favourite place to go in Japan…

This is Kiyomizu-dera which is one of my favourite temples and has a good view over Kyoto. It’s also got some tasty “holy” water.

This is Kinkakuji. The golden pavilion. It’s pretty popular with tourists and looks pretty spectacular, but something about it doesn’t impress me as much as many of the other places in Kyoto.

Other places I went in Kyoto included:

• A boat down the Hozugawa river
• Nanzenji
• Nijojo
• Ryoanji
• Sanjuusangendou
• The emergency room (I’ll save this story for another time – everybody’s ok)

On the way back from Kyoto we made a quick stop in Nara…

This is Toudaiji. The largest wooden building in the world with the world’s largest bronze Buddha in it. It’s pretty impressive in person. But watch out for the deer. They’ll attack you and steal stuff out of your pockets.

Then Tokyo…

The English brochure on the boat said this is the “Golden Turd”. It was made by a famous French dude for the Asahi beer hall it sits on.

From Odaiba you can see The Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Tower and the Statue of Liberty.

This picture looks out from a train station toward Ginza. We didn’t go to Ginza this trip though.

Other places I went in Tokyo include:

• Asakusa
• A boat from Asakusa to Odaiba
• Shinjuku (including the world’s busiest train station)
• Shibuya
• Akihabara (twice, once way too early and once again when stuff was open)
• Harajuku (crowded even on an early Thursday afternoon)
• Meijijingu

Finally other miscellaneous stuff…

This shows some walls made of reused pottery pieces along the Tokoname Pottery Path.

If I liked Octopus, eating on this island would have been great. At least other people enjoyed it.

Notes:

• I’m sure I’m forgetting places I went since I just wrote this up from memory. I’ll either update it when I remember something or maybe post more pictures/info later.
• None of these photos were taken by me. My brother and my wife get credit for all the pictures I have from the trip.

That’s all for now! Time to try to adjust my brain back to this time zone.