d&h : in Japan for 2 years » notebook

Summertime in Hokkaido

diana — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 08:58:46 +0000

Our friend organized a summertime trip to Hokkaido. We flew into Asahikawa airport which seemed to see quite a bit of international traffic. We stayed at the Asahidake Youth Hostel which had its own onsen. The next day we hiked around Asahidake Mountain in Daizetsusan National Park. The weather mostly cooperated, no big downpours and fairly clear so we could see Asahidake Mountain while we hiked. We hiked through the blooming flowers of the mountain, over snow, saw foxes and the fumes from the mountain.

After our hike we sopped by the onsen and a waterfall before heading to Furano.

We had fresh corn for breakfast in Furano before heading to the Cheese Factory and then the flower fields.

We passed rolling hills of farmland as we traveled to the flower fields.

So much of the yummy food in Japan comes from Hokkaido. Lavender scented the air as we walked through the flower fields. Lots of colorful flowers and butterflies and bees.

We even saw them harvesting lavender.

Before we headed back to Tokyo we had some ramen at the airport. All in all, a great summertime trip.

Japanese Baseball! 野球

henry — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:25:15 +0000

Diana works for a company that originated from Osaka. So, at work, she has to learn a little Kansai-ben (Osaka dialect), and she definitely has to be a Hanshin Tigers fan (Osaka baseball team).

We kinda pre-mediated this this fact. So, last year, we bought some Tigers jerseys in anticipation of going to a few Hanshin Tiger games. Well, we just went, and it was awesome.

The game was against the Yakult Swallows of Tokyo. Like Go Go Swallows! (I’ll omit any bad jokes here…)

Having watched the Houston Astros as a kid, this was a completely different experience. With JP baseball, every player has a song. This fact alone was amazing. There was a guy behind us that knew every song and was singing loud and proud. There’s cheer songs for everything too. Then, just like a high school football game, there’s a band for each team.

The Swallow’s fight songs are in english too!

The beer service in the park was excellent. Not only were there hot girls, they had mini-kegs on their backs and filled beer for you. Japanese baseball games, unlike the US, allow you to bring your own food and 1 beer. Obviously you can heavily abuse the rules. Otherwise, beer is 500 to 700 yen.

I Miss Green, Yakushima here we come

diana — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 15:53:14 +0000

We took a trip with a friend to Yakushima (one of the southern islands of Japan ) known as the inspiration for the Princess Mononoke animated film and famous for its many old growth cedar trees (thousands of years old). The island was amazingly green and beautiful. We went during rainy season though so it rained and/or poured every day but it only added to the lushness of the island. The hydrangeas (ajisai in Japanese) were blooming. After spending the night in Kagoshima, we took the fast ferry to Yakushima. It was a 2 hour jet-foil ferry ride (the slow ferry takes 4 hours) and a little bumpy but luckily we were all tired so we slept most of the way. We actually rode the Toppy ferry, but the Rocket Ferry had the much cooler looking paint job.

We went to the nicknamed Mononoke forest to do a hike but found that the rain had so swollen the rivers that the forest area was closed.

After shopping for some rain gear and grabbing lunch at a local spot with yummy black pork (黒豚) and flying fish飛び魚.

The next day we woke up before dawn to hit the 10 hour trail to see the oldest known cedar on the island (Jomonsugi) but were turned away as they decided to close the trail that day. Instead, we headed to the Mononoke forest again and this time we were allowed to hike through the forest – all mossy covered rocks and trees and wild rivers.

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It was quite a scenic drive up the mountain as there were so many small waterfalls on the side of the road. The forest was amazing! We tried to check out a waterfall after the hike but the mountains were covered in mist and fog and while we could hear the raging water, we could not see it. We had better luck at the next waterfall that feeds into the sea. A short hike through the cliffside woods led us to a viewpoint of the falls and the coast.

We also tried a seaside onsen with a small bamboo screen separating the men and women. It was quite pretty and definitely a unique experience. That day lightning knocked out the power to the island until about 9pm. The next day we went to one of the largest waterfalls on the island – Okawa no taki – and got drenched from the spray of the powerful falls as we took pictures. Okawa no taki (滝 means waterfall)

Then we went to Yakusugi Land and despite the amusement park name found another green, mossy, cedar filled forest wonderland. This hike was particularly atmospheric as we had to hike over tree roots and cedar plank bridges. I think we crossed at least 3 suspension bridges over the river.

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Another cool fact about Yakushima nature, is the regrowth of trees inside the old stumps of trees. It’s only something that can happen with the amount of moisture, and moss which helps germinate the seeds in the tree stump. This picture is of 2 trees growing from 1 chopped trunk!

We also saw many cedar trees (yakusugi 屋久杉) some over a thousand years old and deer and monkeys. Apparently the nature films are correct and the monkeys really do like to groom each other and eat what they find in each others fur!

Finally, it was time to make our way back to Tokyo by taking a commuter plane to Kagoshima and another plane back to Tokyo . Before that the rental car company told us to just leave the car keys in the car and leave it in the parking lot of the small airport! Must be nice to live on a small island – I don’t think that would ever be the rental car return procedures in the US . This trip was definitely one of the highlights of our Japan exploration. The pictures cannot do justice to the lush scenery and even though I’m not a big fan of hiking in the rain, it was well worth it to experience the rain drops hang glittering from the moss-covered trees and witness the many small streams and waterfalls flowing over rocks and trees all heading to the ocean.

Tokyo City View

diana — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:56:00 +0000

We spent a day touring around Tokyo with some old high school friends of mine. We went to Roppongi to the Mori Art Museum to see the Tokyo City View before going to Harajuku and then to Sangenjaya. Tokyo Tower was very prominent in many pictures. It was a nice day and you can see the city stretch for miles…

Rainbow Bridge and Odaiba (zoomed)

After karaoke

More Visitors

diana — Thu, 27 May 2010 13:35:03 +0000

B, J and A came to visit. They had planned their trips separately but the trips coincided. We took them to Sensoji Temple where the Sanja Matsuri was taking place. It was quite crowded and there was lots of festival food.

We took them to Ginza and Roppongi where we had some roasted miso ramen. The next day, Jason left and the rest of us walked past the Ohara Matsuri in Shibuya on our way to the train station to Kamakura where we saw the Big Buddha and another temple.

View from a temple in Kamakura

Brian and Amy toured around Tokyo the next day before Amy left. Brian had another day in Japan before he headed off on the rest of his Asian Adventure.

Thailand

diana — Sun, 23 May 2010 13:40:43 +0000

Henry and I spent part of the Golden Week holidays in Thailand. We went to Bangkok and toured the Grand Palace, as well as other temples.

We also saw the Emerald Buddah (actually made of jade) which was housed in the Grand Temple. We saw some monk who came the pray to the Emerald Buddah.

After we were done touring, we had some sunset drink at the top of the Hilton by the Chao Praya.

We then took a Thai cooking course. That was a lot of fun and enlightening. As part of the course, we toured a regular local market and saw lots of fresh Thai ingredients. After we finished making our four dishes, we ate them in the restaurant downstairs.

After Bangkok, we went to Koh Chang (Elephant Island) to relax. Actually, we took a prop plane to Trat and then a ferry to Koh Chang. This is probably not the most comforting sight to see before getting on a plane – but it was very hot.

We had a bungalow right on the beach. We could see the beach sunset from our front glass doors.

We stayed on White Beach and it was very pretty. Besides the elephant ride, we did some snorkeling and had lunch on a beach (although I forgot to put the battery in the camera so we don’t have any pictures from that part of the trip).

We had some massages, lots of fruity drinks and coconuts and yummy Thai seafood! All the food we had could fill another post. All in all, a nice, fun and filling trip.

Ring and Michael’s Wedding

diana — Thu, 13 May 2010 13:03:34 +0000

We went to Taipei a little early for the Golden Week holidays in order to attend Ring and Michael’s wedding. Richard was the groomsman. It was a beautiful ceremony at Grace Hill followed by a banquet lunch.

They had a cool champange pour to open the banquet.

That night some of us got together again for some after party karaoke.

We also stopped by Taipei on our back from Thailand where we met with Ring for some night market shopping and shave ice!

Muay Thai in Thailand

henry — Wed, 12 May 2010 02:22:45 +0000

Muay Thai can be brutal and it is. It was totally worth watching. I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see a complete knockout, but that would’ve been sick! All of the boxers had 8-pack abs. Quite amazing. The matches lasted for 5 rounds each. The weight classes started from kids who looked like early teenagers to the older guys.

When we were in Bangkok, we paid for ringside seats which were pricy and tourist oriented, but the view was quite good.

Yamanashi Ohanami

diana — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:17:22 +0000

We were invited to an ohanami party by friends of friends in Yamanashi. I had visited Kiyohara for the ohanami last year but this was Henry’s first time.

The scenery was beautiful and we had a great bento lunch under the sakura.

We also got to listen to a performance of a classical Japanese instrument and song.

Visitors

diana — Sat, 08 May 2010 03:46:33 +0000

We had friends from the US stop by Tokyo for a visit. R&J came one day earlier than the rest so we took them out to see some sakura at Chidorigafuchi, the moat around the Imperial Palace. There were many people rowing boats around the moat.

Then, we took a quick stroll around the Yasukuni Shrine and then to Kagurazaka for a seafood snack. We had some fresh grilled seafood like scallops, clams and whelk.

Before all our visitors left, we had some kaiten sushi which everyone seemed to enjoy.

As it happened, we also met up with K&W in Taipei along with some of their friends. We hung out in Ximen before meeting up with our other friends for some karaoke.