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I still had a few days left on my three-week JR pass and I wanted to make good use of it, so I wondered where to go. A friend of mine suggested I would check out some museums of artists I liked during my trip, and I thought it would be nice to visit the museum dedicated to Hokusai.

The museum ended up being in Obuse, a town about 250 kilometers from Tokyo which seemed like a good destination. So, I got onto the shinkansen to Nagano, and then on the local train from there. I had only been to the south/west of Japan before so it was nice to go up north for a change. At some point I dozed off, and when I opened my eyes again when we stopped at a station, we were surrounded by snow!

Hokusai Katsushika is known for his woodblock print series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji”, amongst them the “Great Wave of Kanagawa”. The museum was very interesting and I particularly enjoyed seeing the very colorful Waterfall series and a few prints from the 36 Mount Fuji views.

After a few more days in Nagoya in which I visited Osaka and Takarazuka, I went back to Tokyo. There isn’t that much tourist-y stuff to do in Tokyo (at least not a lot that I haven’t seen yet and are interested in), so this mostly consisted of concerts, (CD) shopping, parties and other fun stuff. I did go back to the Senso-ji temple in Asakusa, which was somewhat near my hostel.

Senso-ji was the same as two years before, but the first time there hadn’t been so much stands around there. I of course went to the temple again where I got my future predicted by shaking the box of labelled sticks and read the corresponding note from one of the drawers. It predicted my future would be VERY dark, but the sick person would get better… Right.

I had been to Kyoto before, so this time I decided to go and visit Fushimi Inari shrine, which has a long path with torii’s leading up the mountain.

All the torii’s had an inscription on them. I wasn’t quite sure who donated them when I was there, but later I found out that the Inari is seen as the patron of business, and all these torii’s were donated by a Japanese business. I had been wanting to go there for quite some time (I think I saw the torii’s in a movie some time) and I quite enjoyed walking the mountain trials and visiting the small shrines.

Because I was in Kyoto anyway, I also went to a temple which was said to be known for it’s beautiful autumn foliage. Unfortunately it seemed I was too late in the season to see any of it (though it was quite warm on that day, I didn’t need to wear my coat while it was December), though the temples looked great anyway.

On that evening, my Nagoyan friends and I went downtown Nagoya and took a trip up the TV tower to watch the night view of the city.

Once back at my friends’ place in Nagoya, I spent the following days travelling the Kansai region with my train pass while she went to university. On the first day back in Nagoya, I decided to go to Nara. The town is almost 1300 years old and was Japan’s first permanent capital.

My timing was rather bad, plus I accidentally took the slowest shinkansen from Nagoya to Nara, so I arrived later than I was expecting. The weather wasn’t very great either and it rained some. I went to visit Todaji temple. It’s the world’s largest wooden building, and home of Japan’s largest buddha statue. So I walked to the temple, and got in just on time. The huge doors closed behind me when I entered the temple, we were only to exit and entrance wasn’t possible any more. The statues were really huge in real time, and quite impressive.

Nara is famous for its tame deer running around, and I spotted a few as well, they were very cute. I also took a look at the five-story Kofukuji pagoda, which was the largest that I’ve ever seen, I think.

After my stay in Fukuoka I went back to my friend in Nagoya. I left in the morning, and decided to get off the shinkansen in Hiroshima in order to see the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.

The atomic bomb dome was very impressive, the structure of the building still standing. Because I’m a foreign person that is apparently easy to approach, this Japanese lady came up to me and started talking to me in English. I usually do not mind this but she was a bit wacky, really. She told me she was studying English because she would be visiting New York for two weeks in a few years, because she liked jazz and dancing so much… Later at the museum there were lots of school children and one of them asked me to answer some questions for his English school assignment, so I wrote down my answers.

Anyway, after the lady found someone else to bother, I went to the museum. It was really interesting, because here in the Netherlands we learn about World War II, but mostly from our own point of view. So basically I had no idea what had transpired in Japan around the same time. In the museum they showed a time line and explained what had happened when. There was a lot of information on the bomb as well, and of course the damage it had done.

It was really impressive, especially the stories from the victims. I couldn’t help to be very paranoid at the sight though, I really didn’t want to touch the stone that had been deformed by the radiation of the bomb and somehow I didn’t dare to eat there either, don’t ask me why… Later on the street car, I couldn’t help and look at the elder ladies and wonder if they had survived the bomb as well.

After visiting the A-bomb dome and the museum I went to downtown Hiroshima for lunch, which I had at a really cute Beatles cafe. In the late afternoon, I got on the Shinkansen again and arrived back in Nagoya some time later.

After spending the night in Kagoshima again, I took the Shinkansen back to Fukuoka, where I was to stay three for days.

I arrived in the afternoon. I had no clue where to go at first but an extremely nice guy helped me to find my way. A little later I arrived at the youth hostel, but it was locked. I called the people but they wouldn’t let me in because of some opening times that were not available on their website or anything so I couldn’t enter. It was really cold and it started to rain so I was really pissed off. I guess that kind of set the mood for my stay in Fukuoka because I somehow didn’t like it much. It even started to snow on the second day, which was really weird seeing as I had been in 20+ degree weather just a day before. The hotel receptionist was a really creepy guy which didn’t really help either.

I did meet up with a friend of mine from Kokura, which was great. Funny thing was that because of his piercings, some people stared more at him than me, the blonde gaijin girl. I also went to a concert again, this time as press for a SHERBETS live. The concert was really fantastic, and the aisatsu afterwards was pretty great as well.You can read my live report over here: SHERBETS Live in Fukuoka.

On the way back, I got a little lost at the Hakata train station, seeing as it’s basically two stations connected by an underground walk way. So, I asked a girl if she could tell me where to go. Instead of just giving me directions, she walked with me from one side of the station to the other one, on really uncomfortable high heeled shoes even though I said it wasn’t necessary. She spoke perfect English, and she told me I was only the second foreigner she had ever spoken to, so that was pretty amazing!

After three days on Yakushima, it was time to go back to the main land. The very nice hotel owner, Ken, dropped me off in Mugio, so I could see the Toroki no taki waterfall before going to the harbour in Anbo by bus.

Everything went fine so far. I took the bus from Mugio to Anbo, where I put my suitcase at the tourist information center and then went to the post office to get some money at the ATM. However, when I reached the post office, I noticed that my wallet wasn’t in my purse… So I went back to the tourist information office to see if I had perhaps put it in my suitcase, which wasn’t the case. So I panicked, because I was leaving the island in a few hours and my wallet was gone. I did my best to explain it to the lady at the tourist information center who spoke no English at all, and there was a man there who was very kind and got me hot cocoa. So,  the lady of the tourist information center called the police office for me to inform them my wallet was gone, and then the bus company because I was pretty sure I left it on the bus because that’s where I last used my wallet.

Not too long after, the lady received a phone call from the bus company to say that the bus I had been on arrived in Miyanoura in the North of the island, and that they had found my wallet! The only problem was, how was I going to get there? The man who had given me hot cocoa before told me he would drive me, which was so generous and kind that I didn’t even worry about driving across the island with a stranger. The man was an ‘eco guide’ which meant he took tourists on trips across the island. So while we were driving, he was telling me things “over there are those ruins, the island over there in the distance is Tanegashima,” and such things. His English was extremely broken but we managed to have some conversation.

Once we arrived at the bus company in Miyanoura, they gave me back my wallet. I was very grateful and relieved, so I thanked them all several times. All my money, cards, anything was still in there, although I wasn’t too worried about my cash as long as I had my credit card. So, after that the man drove me back to the harbour where I still had 15 minutes left before I could get on the ferry. I was really exhausted at that, and amazed and so thankful for the kindness of the islanders. I guess you can say that Yakushima and its inhabitants hold a special place in my heart!

Together with my brand new friend Yuiko, I went to Shiratani Unsuikyo, which is famous for its rapids and also because a part of the forest has been used as inspiration for the forest in the anime Mononoke hime (Princess Mononoke).

We first went to the Shitoko Gajumaru-en Banyan Garden, which had lots of Banyan trees. They were very impressive, though creepy at the same time because they sort of looked like they had tentacles that would strangle you. Afterwards we went to the Isso lighthouse, which turned out to be locked. However, we did have a great view of the ocean there.

We went to Anbo then, where Yuiko dropped off her rental car and took the ferry back to Kagoshima. I went back to Onoaida and made a walk in the town. Once the sun started to set, it was pitch dark within 30 minutes so I was happy I was back at the hotel already for dinner.

On my first full day at the island I went to Yakusugi Land. I went by bus in the morning, and thanks to the explanation of the nice lady at the tourist information center, I was able to see the Kikensugi cedar of 3000 years old first. It was pretty impressive and unfortunately my camera was too ‘small’ to photograph it as a whole…

So, after my hike I took the bus back to Anbo, and then went back to the hotel on Onoaida where I bought some food at the conbini. I had dinner at the hotel again, again lots of dishes that were unfamilair to me but tasted very good! I especially liked the sashimi (raw fish). Again, I went to bed quite early.

After spending the night in Kagoshima, I travelled to the island Yakushima. Yakushima is in the south of Japan, so imagine you go island hopping from Kyushu, you end up in Yakushima first and eventually you end up in Okinawa. The island is simply beautiful, it’s also a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site and it is really worth visiting, and definitely worth the trickiness to get there! In case you’re thinking of visiting the island, I used this website a lot, though back then it was only a website and the book hadn’t been published.

So, after a few days with my friend in Nagoya I continued my trip and travelled to Kagoshima by shinkansen. Kagoshima is in the very south west of the “main land” of Japan. The distance from Nagoya to Kagoshima is 1000 km, which took me seven hours. I quite like the shinkansen, and on this one I could even charge my phone on the electric outlets!

In the late afternoon I arrived in Kagoshima. I had some problems finding the hotel even though stupid me had already walked past it, and I got help from this old man who spoke excellent English, he was a retired English teacher XD The youth hostel wasn’t much special but very cheap, I got a three person room as a single room, and finally I had a real bed instead of a futon :D The shower was kinda gross though. Another downside was the traditional-ness of their common room as there were only low, Japanese tables and my legs still hurt from falling in Nagoya so it was very uncomfortable.

Because Kagoshima is in the south, the weather was lovely. It was nearly December, but it felt like 20 degrees or so and I noticed some palm trees in town as well. I went to wander around Kagoshima in the late afternoon/evening, and went to the shopping district Tenmonkan. I quite liked the atmosphere of it, quite cozy. I noticed a small office that sold ferry tickets, so I went there to get a ticket to the ferry I would be taking the next day. The lady there spoke no English at all, so I ordered the ticket in Japanese. Everything went well and I felt quite accomplished :D

After Tokyo, I headed to my friend in Nagoya, who is living and studying in Japan for a year. The distance between Tokyo to Nagoya is 360 km, which took me two hours by shinkansen. It was a huge hassle with my big suitcase, but fortunately I could leave most of my stuff in Nagoya and use my friend’s smaller suitcase instead, which was so much more convenient.

I explored some of Nagoya… unfortunately the town itself isn’t that interesting. My friend and I also went to Nagoya castle, which was lovely. We also went inside, where they had objects from the olden days displayed. The view was nice too.

On the second night, my friends and me went to this reggae party… Unfortunately, when we were looking for a toilet, I ran after my friend, slipped and fell on my knees, which was really painful :( Apparently my crash was so loud that a man even left his… restaurant/kitchen? in order to give me a wet towel for my knees. Fortunately I didn’t really break or strain anything, but it was very painful and harder to walk, too.

The reggae party itself was a bit… funny. My friends wanted to arrive early, as soon as it started, but the artist, MOOMIN, only showed up after a few hours. It was pretty great though, and I danced along with my painful knees and ankles. Later, we went to this English pub which was full of (scary) foreigners.

So I started my holiday with five days in Tokyo, during which I met up with various friends, went shopping, and went to several areas to walk around. The second-hand CD stores were fabulous, sometimes with CDs for only a few hundred yen (a few euro) and I really had to tell myself not to buy too much, because it wouldn’t fit in my suitcase.

It felt great to be back, I already knew my way around from the previous time, was more confident with the language. The weather was lovely, at times I didn’t even need to wear a coat out, while my mom sent me a picture of snow in the Netherlands…

I also got the opportunity to eat more sorts of Japanese food and was less shy to enter a restaurant. After okinomiyaki, we had gyoza, sushi (of course), shabu-shabu and went to some other restaurants.

Also, I went out with my friends on a night, which was a lot of fun. Strangely, trains stop running around 12/1 o’clock in Tokyo. So I took the first train at 6 o’clock, which was totally crowded with lots of (scary) people.

On the 24th I attended the first concert of my stay in Japan, a solo concert of INORAN. The concert was absolutely great, and I guess I was really lucky that he happened to play in Tokyo while I was there :)

My second trip to Japan was kind of a “present” to myself. Mid-November I graduated, and two weeks later, I headed to Japan. This time, I would stay in the country for a full month, and would travel to the south/west of Japan. This time, I travelled by myself, but I would meet up with my Dutch friend in Tokyo, and stay with a friend of mine in Nagoya for a while.

This time, I flied with KLM from Amsterdam to Tokyo directly, which took 11 hours. I was lucky and there was no one sitting next to me on the plane, so I could stretch out and nap a little :D In the morning, I arrived in Tokyo. I took the train to central Tokyo, and somehow strange people just like to talk to me, because on the train this Chinese/German woman started to talk to me, in German. Speaking German wasn’t something I had been expecting in Tokyo…

I found my hotel pretty soon. This time I stayed in Aizuya Inn, a different one from the previous time that was a little more expensive, but was a bit bigger, cleaner and offered better facilities, such as various showers instead of two for the entire hotel. At the hotel, I also picked up my rental phone, which would prove to be very useful during my stay. Not only could I call and email my friends, but I could also easily update my Twitter account.

After I took a shower in the hotel and rested a bit, I went off again, to meet up with my friend for dinner in Shinjuku. We had okinomiyaki, which was quite good :) Afterwards, we went to meet up with another friend of us and went to a few bars. It was a lot of fun, but I was still pretty dead from the long plane flight, so I already went back to the hotel around ten. The Shinjuku area was amusing to me again, with lots of host looking like copies of each other and the usual group of transvestites at a street corner XD

The area we were in, Minami-senju was near Asakusa, which is famous for its temples. It was a 20 minute walk from our hotel, but because of the heat we took longer. At the temples, we got our future predicted. They have a special system for that, you insert 100 yen into a box, then take a… can with lots of small, numbered sticks, shake the can until one stick falls out, look at the number and open the drawer with the same number to get a note with your future prediction.

My note said several things, such as “the sick person won’t get better soon,” but also “travelling will be worrisome” so I was about to pee my pants because we would be flying soon… It also said that my “target deer was running very far away, no one knew it could run that far”, but in the end I would get it :D

The following day was our very last one… We weren’t sure about what to do, so we decided to go to Yokohama. In a CD store there, I purchased a very rare demo tape of Jinkaku Radio, which was super-expensive but completed my collection :D

So, the next day we flied home. First back to Russia where the people were very rude and everything was rather confusing, then back to Paris, and the day after, back to the Netherlands.

In the end, I had a great holiday. I definitely want to go back to Japan again, to see some more of the North, but also of Kyoto because I quite liked that town and there’s so much to see. I definitely do not regret spending so much money on this trip and I can’t wait until the next time…

During the last week in Tokyo, we didn’t find any interesting sightseeing things to do plus it was way too hot to really do something. So instead we went to a lot of concerts (in air conditioned venues!) We had already planned some of them before, but we went to other, small events at random.

While we went to a store in Shinjuku in order to buy concert tickets, we came across a huge advertisement on the wall, for host clubs. I was pretty amused by it and I think it’s an interesting concept: men that keep women company for money XD I guess it’s a typically Japanese thing, they even had catalogues and such, and I was very amused XD

Despite the heat, we decided to do a little sight seeing after all, and went to the palace. Seeing as you could only look at it from a distance, it was a little disappointing. The weather was really hot again, so with every step you started to sweat like crazy and all we wanted to do is to sit in an airconditioned room instead of walking around in the heat!

On the following day, we met up with some Dutch friends who happened to be on holiday there in the same period. We went to Comiket, this huge manga/anime convention-thing. I don’t know a single thing about anime or manga so for me it was rather boring. It was super crowded as well.