A small break from my personal adventures: I would like to make a brief post about places to go and how to get there in Japan. Now, I am no expert in this field by any means, nor do I think I have the “cheapest” methods or the most efficient .HOWEVER these are the things I’ve used, seen, and worked for me thus far.
Traveling in Japan: NOT as cheap as you would think. Flights with in Japan aren’t the cheapest unless you land special time brackets which they have on occasion or based on holidays. However during holidays that the Japanese DO take off it’s best to either stay put or get your bid in early. An example of this is during Japans Golden week. During this time (which falls normally in late April to early May) the Japanese tend to go off country or vacation. Since EVERYONE is on holiday you can imagine the price hike. Prices can quadruple at this time, and only if you are fortunate can you land a flight for a decent price. (I have been fortunate to do that this year!)
If Flights aren’t your thing there is always the Train. Shinkansen (which I believe is the fastest train within Japan) travels to most notable destination points and some that aren’t. The prices can get steep but generally not more than flights. If you are willing to take a bit longer to get to some place then this is the route I would suggest. I live in Toyama ( a prefecture even most Japanese people who aren’t in Toyama don’t know about ) and I’ve traveled to Tokyo and Osaka via Shinkansen/Rapid train.
There is also night buses. Now unless you have the stomach/patience to handle long bus rides I wouldn’t suggest this, however it the cheapest option. On the Shinkasen it cost me around 20000\ ( $200 some odd dollars) to Tokyo round trip I believe. Night bus round trip can land you maybe 8000\ ( $80 bucks). I have taken both and though I prefer the train, if I am low on money I will take a bus.
Finally the local train which consists of JR ( which takes you a lot of places even far away) and local trains that are just within a city. These trains are used for normal day travel.
Here is a site for Local/ some Far away train services as well as my local Airport links:
Hyperdia Trains
Toyama Airport
Tokyo Airport
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Farewell, Craftsmanship and Jet Fest!
Monday Feburary 15th:
A rather normal Monday with Eikawa at night, but I met up with Adam for dinner. It was nice to chat with him and we are going to attempt to have dinner every Monday when we can before my Eikawa Class. We already have another dinner planned with us and Reaven for Chinese in the following weeks. Eikawa class has also changed now that we have another student. She is pretty good at English and has A LOT of questions. So I end up spending most of my time explaining things, which I must admit helps the time move by faster. Also it was nice because one of my students who is GREAT at cooking (also the one who held the Christmas party at her house) brought tea and mango pudding for everyone. She is such a NICE lady!
Friday February 19th:
After work it was a quick hour or sprucing up moment before rushing off to the train station to catch the JR to Toyama. Once I arrived I met Tiffany at the Mall and looked around for ten minutes or so. We were the first to arrive in town and the first to get our seats at Gohei. Once in Gohei we waited around for the rest of the guests to arrive. It was a tatami sit down kind of food place and a lot of people ended up showing. Even unexpected persons which arrived before the star of the dinner himself. In fact he came perhaps and hour or so after everyone else had basically arrived. The table was set for ten people but at least fifteen showed. Nevertheless one of the CIRs that spoke at mid-year seminar showed up and I was about to introduce myself before he stopped me short and said he already knew me. When I asked him to explain he told me that the other Brazilian friends I had made a few weeks back had spoken of me as did Hilda, a close friend of his and now mine. It’s really interesting and slightly off putting when one keeps meeting people who already know you and you know nothing about them XD
Nevertheless the dinner moved on, and after trying horse meat and finishing my own meal it was go Karaoke time! Something I feel like I am going to overkill on in the near future haha . So a good chunk of us ( Salvador, Jarrad, Yunosuke and a friend he brought, Rachel and her boyfriend, Tiffany, Ousemon and Vannie… hope I didn’t leave out one hehe) went to Karaoke. We ended up belting out for three hours this round, and I sung quite a bit. Each time I gained more and more vibe and appreciation. I official will make the “I See You” song by Leonia Lewis a song I sing. It’s a hard song to sing and I think if I can master it, then my voice/vocal range will improve. I want to sing the best I can come time for the Charity Show. It was really fun and I got to hang out with those who I normally never hand with or don’t have a chance to. Jarrad, Ousemon, Salvador and I all made racist jokes with each other. I found it funny since we were the only brown people in the room, and we were the only ones not too nervous to joke and play around in such a fashion. Something I haven’t done much since leaving the US. Very cool cats indeed. Once I had thoroughly lost my voice for the night it was time to crash at Vannies place for the night!
Saturday February 20th:
I slept in while Vannie left out to run errands and such and woke around one in the afternoon. I got dressed and then called Alexis to see if we were still on, for working on the Tin-Man costume. Once she said it was a go I waited for her to drop by Vannies. When she arrived she dropped off her things and we headed out for food and supplies. However first I needed to drop by the ATM (and here is one of those “it happens only in Japan moments”!). I get in line put in my card, key code, how much money I want, and wait. I grab the receipt and my card and walk away…. WITHOUT my money! A women came up behind me telling me “Your money Your money” in Japanese and by the time I ran back to grab it the cash slot closed and the entire ATM on the ride side shut down. The lady behind me then proceeded to help me, by calling someone and telling them what happened. She told me to wait there while someone came to fix the problem. So Alexis and I waited for a good fifteen or so minutes when a man pulled up and went into the room behind the ATM machine. ( Mind you there is a line of Japanese ppl at the other side of the ATM trying to figure out WHY the machine wasn’t working and WHY were two gaijin standing there looking clueless) After he fooled around with things, he came around gave me my money and was super nice. I didn’t have to pay a dime for this service. It was very cool! And I have another only in Japan story!
After that moment of crazy we stopped in Mc Donald’s, had a late lunch and then trolled the two stories Hyakuen-shop for materials. I ended up buying materials for the costume and myself. It was a really nice store which I wish I had near me. After we walked back with all our materials we then proceeded to work on the costume. I think its going to turn out well! That and Alexis is a really fun person to work with and likes to get things done. Finally Vannie came back home with Will and Van proceeded to make spring rolls for dinner while Will met worked with Takuma on lyrics for the charity show songs. We all were doing work until Vannie finished dinner then we basically called it a night and ate!! It was also Taku’s bday so he busted out the champagne, I had a glass and so did Will and we toasted. Shortly there after Debbie showed, had some food and we all chilled for a while until Taku left, then Vannie, Debbie and I drew for a while until Vannie and Will wanted alone time. It was then I went with Debbie down to her apartment on the lower floors and chilled with her for some time. After being texted by Vannie that it was ok to return to her apartment I said good night to Debbie, went back to Vannies place, and curled up for bed.
Sunday February 21st:
Once again I slept in while Vannie and Will left around eight in the morning to get things prepared for Jet Fest. I slept until 10:300-11oclock and woke up, dressed, and made my way (slowly and unsurely) to the station to get to the JR and hop a train to Takaoka where Jet Fest was to be held. When I was waiting on the platform for the train to come I ran into Ousemon and we boarded the train together. By the time we reached Takaoka around ten of us Jets and friends of Jet had managed to be on the same train and we all walked together to Wing Wing where the festival was being held. Arriving at Wing Wing we all broke off and I circled the country/state booths and greeted and mingled with people. I was also on and off watching the cultural performances on stage. Everyone was watching when the Brazilian drum and base band came on and a rather attractive 15! year old half Brazilian half Japanese girl came on the stage wearing carnival clothes and shaking what the BRAZILLIAN side gave her! Hahaha! There was also a little girl perhaps the age of five dancing with her. It was cute. Then the band leader put down his drum and came into the audience and started dancing around. He then proceeded to drag me up on the stage as well as Sara to dance. It was embarrassing and nice, and he was really cute! UNFORTUNATELY I found out later that he was not only Sara’s student but he was seventeen. *sigh* I can’t win! XD! The rest of the festival was relative normal after this and once it was all over me and a group of people went along with Sara and Taku to by ingredients for Mexican dinner. It was fun to make the food and I got to hang with Jarrad and Salvador again and we fussed about being the workers in the kitchens! However by the time we had finished cooking and it was time to eat we had a rather FULL house of people there, and the food went FAST. I put mine to the side and continued to cook the tortillas so there would be enough for everyone. I also managed to have five small cups of margaritas which was nice XD! After dinner there was talking, a little dancing, and explaining motor boating to Japanese girls. Of course I was made an example of. This is just how it goes here ^^;; When it was time to go Taku drove the Niikawa people to the station and we all traded numbers and said our goodbyes! Another successfully fun and sleep heavy weekend! I am on a roll!!!!!!!!!!
P.S. YAY!! I caught up!
A rather normal Monday with Eikawa at night, but I met up with Adam for dinner. It was nice to chat with him and we are going to attempt to have dinner every Monday when we can before my Eikawa Class. We already have another dinner planned with us and Reaven for Chinese in the following weeks. Eikawa class has also changed now that we have another student. She is pretty good at English and has A LOT of questions. So I end up spending most of my time explaining things, which I must admit helps the time move by faster. Also it was nice because one of my students who is GREAT at cooking (also the one who held the Christmas party at her house) brought tea and mango pudding for everyone. She is such a NICE lady!
Friday February 19th:
After work it was a quick hour or sprucing up moment before rushing off to the train station to catch the JR to Toyama. Once I arrived I met Tiffany at the Mall and looked around for ten minutes or so. We were the first to arrive in town and the first to get our seats at Gohei. Once in Gohei we waited around for the rest of the guests to arrive. It was a tatami sit down kind of food place and a lot of people ended up showing. Even unexpected persons which arrived before the star of the dinner himself. In fact he came perhaps and hour or so after everyone else had basically arrived. The table was set for ten people but at least fifteen showed. Nevertheless one of the CIRs that spoke at mid-year seminar showed up and I was about to introduce myself before he stopped me short and said he already knew me. When I asked him to explain he told me that the other Brazilian friends I had made a few weeks back had spoken of me as did Hilda, a close friend of his and now mine. It’s really interesting and slightly off putting when one keeps meeting people who already know you and you know nothing about them XD
Nevertheless the dinner moved on, and after trying horse meat and finishing my own meal it was go Karaoke time! Something I feel like I am going to overkill on in the near future haha . So a good chunk of us ( Salvador, Jarrad, Yunosuke and a friend he brought, Rachel and her boyfriend, Tiffany, Ousemon and Vannie… hope I didn’t leave out one hehe) went to Karaoke. We ended up belting out for three hours this round, and I sung quite a bit. Each time I gained more and more vibe and appreciation. I official will make the “I See You” song by Leonia Lewis a song I sing. It’s a hard song to sing and I think if I can master it, then my voice/vocal range will improve. I want to sing the best I can come time for the Charity Show. It was really fun and I got to hang out with those who I normally never hand with or don’t have a chance to. Jarrad, Ousemon, Salvador and I all made racist jokes with each other. I found it funny since we were the only brown people in the room, and we were the only ones not too nervous to joke and play around in such a fashion. Something I haven’t done much since leaving the US. Very cool cats indeed. Once I had thoroughly lost my voice for the night it was time to crash at Vannies place for the night!
Saturday February 20th:
I slept in while Vannie left out to run errands and such and woke around one in the afternoon. I got dressed and then called Alexis to see if we were still on, for working on the Tin-Man costume. Once she said it was a go I waited for her to drop by Vannies. When she arrived she dropped off her things and we headed out for food and supplies. However first I needed to drop by the ATM (and here is one of those “it happens only in Japan moments”!). I get in line put in my card, key code, how much money I want, and wait. I grab the receipt and my card and walk away…. WITHOUT my money! A women came up behind me telling me “Your money Your money” in Japanese and by the time I ran back to grab it the cash slot closed and the entire ATM on the ride side shut down. The lady behind me then proceeded to help me, by calling someone and telling them what happened. She told me to wait there while someone came to fix the problem. So Alexis and I waited for a good fifteen or so minutes when a man pulled up and went into the room behind the ATM machine. ( Mind you there is a line of Japanese ppl at the other side of the ATM trying to figure out WHY the machine wasn’t working and WHY were two gaijin standing there looking clueless) After he fooled around with things, he came around gave me my money and was super nice. I didn’t have to pay a dime for this service. It was very cool! And I have another only in Japan story!
After that moment of crazy we stopped in Mc Donald’s, had a late lunch and then trolled the two stories Hyakuen-shop for materials. I ended up buying materials for the costume and myself. It was a really nice store which I wish I had near me. After we walked back with all our materials we then proceeded to work on the costume. I think its going to turn out well! That and Alexis is a really fun person to work with and likes to get things done. Finally Vannie came back home with Will and Van proceeded to make spring rolls for dinner while Will met worked with Takuma on lyrics for the charity show songs. We all were doing work until Vannie finished dinner then we basically called it a night and ate!! It was also Taku’s bday so he busted out the champagne, I had a glass and so did Will and we toasted. Shortly there after Debbie showed, had some food and we all chilled for a while until Taku left, then Vannie, Debbie and I drew for a while until Vannie and Will wanted alone time. It was then I went with Debbie down to her apartment on the lower floors and chilled with her for some time. After being texted by Vannie that it was ok to return to her apartment I said good night to Debbie, went back to Vannies place, and curled up for bed.
Sunday February 21st:
Once again I slept in while Vannie and Will left around eight in the morning to get things prepared for Jet Fest. I slept until 10:300-11oclock and woke up, dressed, and made my way (slowly and unsurely) to the station to get to the JR and hop a train to Takaoka where Jet Fest was to be held. When I was waiting on the platform for the train to come I ran into Ousemon and we boarded the train together. By the time we reached Takaoka around ten of us Jets and friends of Jet had managed to be on the same train and we all walked together to Wing Wing where the festival was being held. Arriving at Wing Wing we all broke off and I circled the country/state booths and greeted and mingled with people. I was also on and off watching the cultural performances on stage. Everyone was watching when the Brazilian drum and base band came on and a rather attractive 15! year old half Brazilian half Japanese girl came on the stage wearing carnival clothes and shaking what the BRAZILLIAN side gave her! Hahaha! There was also a little girl perhaps the age of five dancing with her. It was cute. Then the band leader put down his drum and came into the audience and started dancing around. He then proceeded to drag me up on the stage as well as Sara to dance. It was embarrassing and nice, and he was really cute! UNFORTUNATELY I found out later that he was not only Sara’s student but he was seventeen. *sigh* I can’t win! XD! The rest of the festival was relative normal after this and once it was all over me and a group of people went along with Sara and Taku to by ingredients for Mexican dinner. It was fun to make the food and I got to hang with Jarrad and Salvador again and we fussed about being the workers in the kitchens! However by the time we had finished cooking and it was time to eat we had a rather FULL house of people there, and the food went FAST. I put mine to the side and continued to cook the tortillas so there would be enough for everyone. I also managed to have five small cups of margaritas which was nice XD! After dinner there was talking, a little dancing, and explaining motor boating to Japanese girls. Of course I was made an example of. This is just how it goes here ^^;; When it was time to go Taku drove the Niikawa people to the station and we all traded numbers and said our goodbyes! Another successfully fun and sleep heavy weekend! I am on a roll!!!!!!!!!!
P.S. YAY!! I caught up!
Valentines weekend ( Short Yay!)
Friday February 12th: I went to Jacks award party. Apparently he won some award for his puppet designs so some member of Colare and the Niikawa Jets went to Green Café for dinner and to celebrate. As nice as Green Cafe is the enkai food is never something I really enjoy or get full off of though sometimes they have really good dishes. Nevertheless we just sat and talked and ate and drank for around two hours despite the fact that I was driving. Then we all decided that we would go to MoMo bar afterwards. So around twelve of us made our way to the bar and sat and had drinks, played pool (horribly I might add) and had a good time. It was a good start to an overall fun and restful weekend.
Sunday February 14th: Saturday passed by at home and relaxing, something that alludes me on the weekends and most days of the week. Either way the beginning of the day was restful and I didn’t do much, but around 5:30 I left for the train station so I could meet Tiffany in Toyama for dinner. We ended up eating at Satoshi’s ( a really good Indian restaurant) and she brought her friend Yunosuke along. He was a really cool guy. A Japanese boy who had moved to London on working holiday and who loves England. He’s really into music and was truly a gentlemen. When it was time to pay for our check he covered both me and Tiffany. I was truly not expecting it. Then we decided to pound out an hour of Karaoke in which he liked my singing and gave me homework to learn a Janet Jackson song for his going away dinner/party the following Friday. I told him I’d try it and we all parted ways. He was a cool cat.
Sunday February 14th: Saturday passed by at home and relaxing, something that alludes me on the weekends and most days of the week. Either way the beginning of the day was restful and I didn’t do much, but around 5:30 I left for the train station so I could meet Tiffany in Toyama for dinner. We ended up eating at Satoshi’s ( a really good Indian restaurant) and she brought her friend Yunosuke along. He was a really cool guy. A Japanese boy who had moved to London on working holiday and who loves England. He’s really into music and was truly a gentlemen. When it was time to pay for our check he covered both me and Tiffany. I was truly not expecting it. Then we decided to pound out an hour of Karaoke in which he liked my singing and gave me homework to learn a Janet Jackson song for his going away dinner/party the following Friday. I told him I’d try it and we all parted ways. He was a cool cat.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Yuki Matsuri!
Sapporo Snow Festival February 5th-8th
Friday February 5th: SNOW as usual. Wet and miserable and grey was Toyama and it’s something we’ve gotten used to at this point. However our moaning about it has not ceased to stop. After grunting though the weather, meeting up with Will and Van, and grabbing a quick lunch we drove to the Airport about an hour before our flight. At first we were sure we booked different flights but it turned out that we were all on the same flight. A very wonderful surprise.
After the short plane ride we arrived in Hokkaido and hopped a rapid train to Sapporo station. There we split, checked in to our respective hotels, and met back up at the television tower. Tiffany and I were the first to arrive and though we managed to be late ourselves we waited for the rest of our crew for thirty minutes or so. It was freezing outside and yet I’d rather be cold then cold AND wet in Toyama. Once everyone had arrived we walked around Odori Park for a short while and decided that we were all too cold and too hungry to really deal with the harshness of the high winds. We did however manage to see a few sculptures and met some Osaka Jets who were also around to enjoy the festival. One of them who’s name was Matt would show up again later in our trip. Parting ways with the Osaka Jets we found ourselves in a Yakiniku spot and proceeded to devour food like we hadn’t eaten in weeks. It was pretty good but by far the best Yakiniku I have had was in Osaka during my silver week trip to visit Phage. Considering the night was still young we all decided to walk to the Karaoke place across the street and we rocked it out for two hours or so before we called it a night and passed out in our respective hotels and beds.
Saturday February 6th :
Woke up, got a bit fancy and met Will and Van near Tokyu hands for food. Around twenty minutes later we found a place who served Chinese food buffet style. We walked in and waited to be seated. However the host saw that we had cups from the coffee shop we had made a pit-stop at before we found the restaurant and yelled at us saying that we couldn’t bring in drinks. Will who made the best `I`m about to go Hulk on you` face ever kindly told him that he was very rude in Japanese and we all walked out deciding that he was too much of a dick to eat at his place. This bummed us out slightly because we were really looking forward to Chinese, but instead we ended up at a Korean food restaurant which turned out to be fabulous. We were quite pleased with the over all outcome and our bellies were quite full and content.
Shopping at Tokuyo hands was in order after grub and we shopped around for a short time while we were waiting to meet up with Wills friends. Once we met up with the two girls( who were so sweet and fun to be around) , and Matt who decided to tag along we headed over to the chocolate museum. Granted I didn’t get to eat as much chocolate as I would have guessed, but the museum itself was architecturally cool and it had some cool displays outside of the fact they made chocolate. There was half a floor dedicated to the toys the founder of the chocolate factory collected over the years, and I think the tradition has been continued by those who still run the business. There were Star Wars collectables, Pokemon collectables, Disney Toys, Astro boy posters and figurines and so on. It was pretty cool. After spending two hours or so there we treaded back to the station (so cold and snowy!) and went back towards the festival to meet up with someone else and to grab dinner.
When we returned to Sapporo city center we met up with the other friend of Wills (who was so freckin pretty) and she lead us to yet another Yakiniku place HOWEVER this place was super fancy and we got like six courses of food including the meat. It was a good time and Tiffany and I talked to the first two girls about our lives as Jets and our love for animation and such. We learned a good deal about them too, and I hope I get the chance to see them again while I’m in Japan. Once dinner was over the price for all of us was near sixty a person, and yet the girl who took us to the restaurant covered us a bit. I think she knocked off twenty bucks a person. It was SUPER nice of her to do that. After bowing to her a couple million times it was finally time to enjoy the snow festival. Since it was dark at this point all the sculptures were lit up and we spent a solid two or three hours walking around taking pictures of sculptures and being very cold. Needless to say we ended up going to Karaoke again (though Tiffany went to the game arcade) and after an hour or two we met back up with Tiffany and said goodbye to the girls. Joining Tiffany in the game arcade I played a few games (horribly I might add) but it was fun anyway. Once we left we gathered our wits, hit up the kombini for snacks, bought some cards, and played spades for a while in Vans hotel.
Sunday February 7th:
Since Tiffany was catching a flight a day earlier then Will, Van and I we woke up early to head over to the Sapporo Beer factory. There wasn’t much to see there so after a short time we went down to the base floor and got the three beers for 400\ deal and met a pretty cool guy from California who was there on business and on ski holiday. However by noon (possibly earlier) we were back at Sapporo station seeing Tiffany off. After the goodbyes, hugs, and be carefuls were handed out Will, Van, and I decided that we were truly to tired to do something strenuous. Thus we made our way to a museum (which was fairly boring) and then to an onsen where me and Van relaxed and talked together. We even fell asleep in the outdoor onsen while it was snowing. It was really nice and really relaxing and also the time where I found out I had lost thirteen pounds. Granted the scales could have just lied and I’m in a pleasant dream world but I’ll take it either way. When we got out of the onsen we dressed in yukata and met will in the lounge room where I dosed in and out of consciousness for an hour or two. This was a nice and rest day. Then we ate food at this Indian/Moroccan (not quite sure) place. I’m thinking Indian because they served lassi drinks. Either way the food was delicious!!!! Sapporo in general seems to be made for the good eatin. I was worried at first because the place was known for curry ramen, and in all truth it didn’t sound like something I wanted. I’m glad it turned out to be a true success. Then! You guessed it! The three of us went to Karaoke where we honestly just sung songs we never had before just to have something else to sing when we go out with other people. It was fun and I think we stayed three hours by ourselves. Since it was our final night I suppose we wanted to make the most out of it. I decided to skip out on my hotel and stay with Will and Van since they had an extra bed and since we were to take the same flight home the following afternoon.
Monday February 8th:
Final day and a quick finish. The three of us visited Tokuyo hands, bought something’s, walked back to the station to try Sapporo ramen and then bought omiyage. Then we were homeward bound!
Friday February 5th: SNOW as usual. Wet and miserable and grey was Toyama and it’s something we’ve gotten used to at this point. However our moaning about it has not ceased to stop. After grunting though the weather, meeting up with Will and Van, and grabbing a quick lunch we drove to the Airport about an hour before our flight. At first we were sure we booked different flights but it turned out that we were all on the same flight. A very wonderful surprise.
After the short plane ride we arrived in Hokkaido and hopped a rapid train to Sapporo station. There we split, checked in to our respective hotels, and met back up at the television tower. Tiffany and I were the first to arrive and though we managed to be late ourselves we waited for the rest of our crew for thirty minutes or so. It was freezing outside and yet I’d rather be cold then cold AND wet in Toyama. Once everyone had arrived we walked around Odori Park for a short while and decided that we were all too cold and too hungry to really deal with the harshness of the high winds. We did however manage to see a few sculptures and met some Osaka Jets who were also around to enjoy the festival. One of them who’s name was Matt would show up again later in our trip. Parting ways with the Osaka Jets we found ourselves in a Yakiniku spot and proceeded to devour food like we hadn’t eaten in weeks. It was pretty good but by far the best Yakiniku I have had was in Osaka during my silver week trip to visit Phage. Considering the night was still young we all decided to walk to the Karaoke place across the street and we rocked it out for two hours or so before we called it a night and passed out in our respective hotels and beds.
Saturday February 6th :
Woke up, got a bit fancy and met Will and Van near Tokyu hands for food. Around twenty minutes later we found a place who served Chinese food buffet style. We walked in and waited to be seated. However the host saw that we had cups from the coffee shop we had made a pit-stop at before we found the restaurant and yelled at us saying that we couldn’t bring in drinks. Will who made the best `I`m about to go Hulk on you` face ever kindly told him that he was very rude in Japanese and we all walked out deciding that he was too much of a dick to eat at his place. This bummed us out slightly because we were really looking forward to Chinese, but instead we ended up at a Korean food restaurant which turned out to be fabulous. We were quite pleased with the over all outcome and our bellies were quite full and content.
Shopping at Tokuyo hands was in order after grub and we shopped around for a short time while we were waiting to meet up with Wills friends. Once we met up with the two girls( who were so sweet and fun to be around) , and Matt who decided to tag along we headed over to the chocolate museum. Granted I didn’t get to eat as much chocolate as I would have guessed, but the museum itself was architecturally cool and it had some cool displays outside of the fact they made chocolate. There was half a floor dedicated to the toys the founder of the chocolate factory collected over the years, and I think the tradition has been continued by those who still run the business. There were Star Wars collectables, Pokemon collectables, Disney Toys, Astro boy posters and figurines and so on. It was pretty cool. After spending two hours or so there we treaded back to the station (so cold and snowy!) and went back towards the festival to meet up with someone else and to grab dinner.
When we returned to Sapporo city center we met up with the other friend of Wills (who was so freckin pretty) and she lead us to yet another Yakiniku place HOWEVER this place was super fancy and we got like six courses of food including the meat. It was a good time and Tiffany and I talked to the first two girls about our lives as Jets and our love for animation and such. We learned a good deal about them too, and I hope I get the chance to see them again while I’m in Japan. Once dinner was over the price for all of us was near sixty a person, and yet the girl who took us to the restaurant covered us a bit. I think she knocked off twenty bucks a person. It was SUPER nice of her to do that. After bowing to her a couple million times it was finally time to enjoy the snow festival. Since it was dark at this point all the sculptures were lit up and we spent a solid two or three hours walking around taking pictures of sculptures and being very cold. Needless to say we ended up going to Karaoke again (though Tiffany went to the game arcade) and after an hour or two we met back up with Tiffany and said goodbye to the girls. Joining Tiffany in the game arcade I played a few games (horribly I might add) but it was fun anyway. Once we left we gathered our wits, hit up the kombini for snacks, bought some cards, and played spades for a while in Vans hotel.
Sunday February 7th:
Since Tiffany was catching a flight a day earlier then Will, Van and I we woke up early to head over to the Sapporo Beer factory. There wasn’t much to see there so after a short time we went down to the base floor and got the three beers for 400\ deal and met a pretty cool guy from California who was there on business and on ski holiday. However by noon (possibly earlier) we were back at Sapporo station seeing Tiffany off. After the goodbyes, hugs, and be carefuls were handed out Will, Van, and I decided that we were truly to tired to do something strenuous. Thus we made our way to a museum (which was fairly boring) and then to an onsen where me and Van relaxed and talked together. We even fell asleep in the outdoor onsen while it was snowing. It was really nice and really relaxing and also the time where I found out I had lost thirteen pounds. Granted the scales could have just lied and I’m in a pleasant dream world but I’ll take it either way. When we got out of the onsen we dressed in yukata and met will in the lounge room where I dosed in and out of consciousness for an hour or two. This was a nice and rest day. Then we ate food at this Indian/Moroccan (not quite sure) place. I’m thinking Indian because they served lassi drinks. Either way the food was delicious!!!! Sapporo in general seems to be made for the good eatin. I was worried at first because the place was known for curry ramen, and in all truth it didn’t sound like something I wanted. I’m glad it turned out to be a true success. Then! You guessed it! The three of us went to Karaoke where we honestly just sung songs we never had before just to have something else to sing when we go out with other people. It was fun and I think we stayed three hours by ourselves. Since it was our final night I suppose we wanted to make the most out of it. I decided to skip out on my hotel and stay with Will and Van since they had an extra bed and since we were to take the same flight home the following afternoon.
Monday February 8th:
Final day and a quick finish. The three of us visited Tokuyo hands, bought something’s, walked back to the station to try Sapporo ramen and then bought omiyage. Then we were homeward bound!
Monday, February 1, 2010
D&D and Onsen! Oh Yea!!
Weekend: Jan 29th thru 31st:
So this weekend was yet another busy yet fulfilling weekend. After work on Friday I was retrieved by Brett and whisked over to David's house to start a new D&D campaign with Brett as our DM. I did managed to stress out a bit while creating my character since all the table top I've played in the past were based off the basics of D&D and not all the specifics and intricacies of the game. Nevertheless they helped me build my character and by the end of it I was a duel-wielding half Elven Ranger named Sanar. Once everyone's game sheets and such were in order we began the campaign. It was rather fun and even though Tiff's character is one you'd like to shoot in the face and my character managed to pick up 6+ nicknames; Sinabar and Singeicles being two of them, it was rather successful. This craziness lasted about a quarter till eleven and with that we all disbanded.
Saturday was onsen day. I woke up in the morning and talked to a few ppl including the Fam, and managed to have enough time to shower and grabs snacks to only show up half and hour after everyone else XD I didn't managed to sit down long before we were all changing into yuukata and walking down to the hot spring. I was a bit nervous at first, but thanks to the absolutely fantastic ladies I was with that worry soon passed me and was forgotten for the whole of the weekend. While in the hot spring we played Mafia (kind of an detective game) and talked bout random stuff and how the random Japanese women kept passing us saying “wow” and doing the curve hand movements. It was rather amusing/awkward/embarrassing all at the same time. After nearly two hours past and our heat tolerance was at it's max we all redressed in our yuukata and returned to the room for a little drinking and relaxing until it was time for dinner. Thankfully we only had to wait about an hour before they retrieved us for dinner. Unfortunately although we ordered the steak set menu we only managed four small cubes of steak while the rest was large quantities of assorted fish. Overall I managed to have an enjoyable dinner and an extra helping of fruit since one of the girls was allergic. After dinner we all retired back to our rooms and from there, there was much talk, gossip, and lounging to be had. It remained this way until nearly ten at night when we decided to take a night plunge in the hot spring. It was lovely. There was a full moon, snow covered mountains, good company and soothing water. Good night. Talking, pictures, massages, and more. Once all that was said and done, some of the girls played FLUX while I did Tina's makeup. It turned out pretty well and she seemed to like it ^^. By the time I was finished however most of the girls went to sleep, I chatted with Debbie for a spell then passed out myself.
The next day we were served breakfast (though I am not partial to breakfast let alone fish in the morning) I ate and we packed up and left the onsen hotel! The rest of the day consisted of my lounging around and then sleeping for the most of the day.
So this weekend was yet another busy yet fulfilling weekend. After work on Friday I was retrieved by Brett and whisked over to David's house to start a new D&D campaign with Brett as our DM. I did managed to stress out a bit while creating my character since all the table top I've played in the past were based off the basics of D&D and not all the specifics and intricacies of the game. Nevertheless they helped me build my character and by the end of it I was a duel-wielding half Elven Ranger named Sanar. Once everyone's game sheets and such were in order we began the campaign. It was rather fun and even though Tiff's character is one you'd like to shoot in the face and my character managed to pick up 6+ nicknames; Sinabar and Singeicles being two of them, it was rather successful. This craziness lasted about a quarter till eleven and with that we all disbanded.
Saturday was onsen day. I woke up in the morning and talked to a few ppl including the Fam, and managed to have enough time to shower and grabs snacks to only show up half and hour after everyone else XD I didn't managed to sit down long before we were all changing into yuukata and walking down to the hot spring. I was a bit nervous at first, but thanks to the absolutely fantastic ladies I was with that worry soon passed me and was forgotten for the whole of the weekend. While in the hot spring we played Mafia (kind of an detective game) and talked bout random stuff and how the random Japanese women kept passing us saying “wow” and doing the curve hand movements. It was rather amusing/awkward/embarrassing all at the same time. After nearly two hours past and our heat tolerance was at it's max we all redressed in our yuukata and returned to the room for a little drinking and relaxing until it was time for dinner. Thankfully we only had to wait about an hour before they retrieved us for dinner. Unfortunately although we ordered the steak set menu we only managed four small cubes of steak while the rest was large quantities of assorted fish. Overall I managed to have an enjoyable dinner and an extra helping of fruit since one of the girls was allergic. After dinner we all retired back to our rooms and from there, there was much talk, gossip, and lounging to be had. It remained this way until nearly ten at night when we decided to take a night plunge in the hot spring. It was lovely. There was a full moon, snow covered mountains, good company and soothing water. Good night. Talking, pictures, massages, and more. Once all that was said and done, some of the girls played FLUX while I did Tina's makeup. It turned out pretty well and she seemed to like it ^^. By the time I was finished however most of the girls went to sleep, I chatted with Debbie for a spell then passed out myself.
The next day we were served breakfast (though I am not partial to breakfast let alone fish in the morning) I ate and we packed up and left the onsen hotel! The rest of the day consisted of my lounging around and then sleeping for the most of the day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)