Day 2

Although I was more than happy to wake up early to meet Dad and Barbara and have a longer day, it meant waking up at 6:30, uuurgh… However, it marked my return to Hakone, which was a very exciting prospect.

Barbara’s main aim was to ride a Shinkansen (bullet train) and see Fuji. Kyoto was near impossible due to time and price constraints, but I had a brain wave; the Shinkansen stopped one station from Hakone, which meant a decent hour ride each way. And not so expensive, at about £20 return per person.



A huge bonus was that the weather was beautiful and Fuji was more clear than I’ve ever seen it. These were taken from a) their hotel room and, b) from the Shinkansen.

The route around Hakone was pretty much the same as my original, so I won’t go into great depths about what we did and in what order. However, it involved a switch-back train up a mountain, a cable-car further up, and a ropeway.



This took us to Owakudani; the “hell valley” which smelt of sulphur. The first time I went there was quite cloudy, so it took me by surprise how visible and near Fuji was; I had no idea before. One of my favourite moments was in the ropeway capsule, when half the people looked to one side and saw the steam rising from the sulphur springs and said ‘Sugoi!’* and the other half saw Fuji and said ‘Sugoi!’, then everyone looked to the other side and said “Sugoi!” again.





Special mention to Dad for his Eminem impression:

This is a close-up of the summit, which takes an hour to walk around. Craziness.

And onto hell valley:


A lot of photos later, and explaining to Japanese people that I’d climbed it a few months back**, and we went to eat some black eggs. Delicious!



The autumnal red leaves were stunning.



A pirate ship across Ashinoko took us to the shrine with the red gate ‘floating’ in the water.




And as the sun set, we walked along the bay, watching Fuji slowly disappear into the night sky.

Unfortunately, the last leg of the journey was on a bus which, thanks to a traffic jam, took a lot longer than expected, but the comfortable Shinkansen more than made up for lost time.

I watched this video on the bus, and it was proof enough that the slow ride was worth it:



It was a great day and I’m glad that Dad and Barbara got to see as much as they did. As they noted, it’s not the easiest country for foreign tourists as it’s not designed for tourism, so without me they would’ve only seen a fraction of the sights I showed them. Just call me “Phil-san, tour guide extraordinaire”.

* Sugoi = great/amazing
**Seeing Fuji so clearly made it seem so strange to think that I’d climbed it. I think if I’d seen how huge and steep it was in this light, I might’ve not attempted it.

Day 1

My first Sunday in Tokyo without work meant that I could have a lie-in like all normal people do, and also I could do a few of the touristy things that I never get the chance to do.

I met Dad and Barbara at their hotel, near Shinjuku station, at about 1pm. It was nice to see them, and strange to think that it had been 8 months since the last time I saw them. Their flight was fine, if long, but they didn’t seem too tired.

We headed out and to the next building – the Metropolitan Government Building – the first stop on my tour of South-West Tokyo. I thought it was a great place to start as they could try and comprehend the colossus that is Tokyo. We could just about see Fuji, although the weather was supposed to be clearer the next day.




After a short walk to Shinjuku station, which serves over 1 million people a day – it feels like each exit is bigger and more complicated than one main train station in London – we went to Harajuku to eat some crepes and see the ‘fashionable’ Harajuku girls. Gwen Stefani would be proud. It was also something that I hadn’t done, and there were plenty to see.



Most of them were willing to have photos taken, and they appeared to enjoy the attention they received. And we even saw a Harajuku 'guy':

In a complete culture shift, behind Harajuku is Meiji Shrine, and within three steps you change from seeing uber-modern clothes to old fashioned yukata/kimono. (This is the park that can be seen in the pictures above.)

There were lots of weddings going on around us, and I found it a little bizarre to have tourists walking and taking photographs around the ceremonies, but I guess it’s a public place after all.



This was a sweet message that – I’m guessing/hoping – a child wrote on one of the wish placards you can buy:



Following this, we headed towards Shibuya, passing all of the street performers – Dad has many photographs but he brought two cameras and I only took the pictures off one of them, so I’ll have to put them up later on. I did, however, manage to get hold of this group of Japanese “Elvis’s” rocking the park up. Very bizarre.

At Shibuya, we sat in the Starbucks and watched the hectic and hypnotising crossroads in all its glory.

And all this in only half a day; I feel tired again just writing about it!

I'm Back

Well, the holiday has been and gone, and I'm absolutely shattered. It was a fun, but tough week - running around, translating, catching trains, finding food etc.

However, I had a lot of fun, went to some places I love and saw some new places as well, the weather was great, and Fuji was incredible.

I will write it all up, and show the hundreds of pictures we took throughout the week.

But for now, I sleep.

NOVA Students Say The Stupidest Things #27

Phil: How was your holiday in America?
Student: It was exciting. I hijacked.
Phil: Really?!
Student: Yeah.
Phil: Hijacked? That's pretty exciting, and illegal.
Student: Oh! Hitch-hiked!

NOVA Students Say The Stupidest Things #26

Describing objects:

Student: It's pink, long and looks like an octopus's testicle.

After a momentary pause, I laughed so hard, that it took the rest of the lesson explaining that she meant 'tentacle' and trying to politely describe a testicle. I have no idea what she was actually describing.

The Storm Before The Calm

Dad and Barbara arrive here tomorrow, so this is my last day of work for a week. I'm looking forward to the holiday and seeing things I've already seen as well as going to some new places.

However, it's thunder and lightning right now, so I hope this is the rain exhausting itself for the week.

Fingers crossed.

Image Of The Week #16

(a billboard advert - taken in Harajuku, September 2006)

So close!

Trick Or Treat

Halloween rocked. It was absolutely knackering and, by the end, I fell asleep exhausted but satisfied.

In the morning, I prepared the special VOICE (1½ hour presentation/discussion) and set off for work. I was told that I wasn’t allowed to decorate or wear a costume as “NOVA is a professional company”. Every other shop in Tokyo had Halloween decorations, but apparently not us. That wasn’t going to stop me. I had my cowboy hat and, many decorations later, the place was complete.


This is my Tuesday kids group. They all ran up shouting “trick or treat”. I’d brought plenty of candy* so wasn’t a problem. How cool are their costumes.

My special VOICE was fun, although only three women were there. Not a big deal since two of them are my favourite students so it was hilarious dressing them up, talking about Halloween, and playing games. I was so tempted to play apple bobbing but didn’t seem so wise with upper-class housewives. Maybe. We played a fun divination game, which I’d found on Wikipedia. You have to pick a hat and whatever is underneath is your fortune for the coming year:

candy = good luck, money = wealth, a bean = poverty, water = travel, soil = bad luck



After NOVA, I went to my Japanese lesson and dressed up as a cowboy; albeit more Indiana Jones than Brokeback. I walked in and about 30 or so Japanese women looked at me as if I was crazy. A few seconds later and, it seemed at the same time, the reason hit them. I shared out more candy, costumes, and played the divination game.



We also made terra-terra-bouzu – Japanese tissue-paper decorations for good weather. This is my teacher Aikawa-San singing the song. She’s amazingly fun and patient with us, and always has something creative and interesting to do and learn each week.



In the evening, I met everyone from work at the Izakaya (Japanese style pub). The turn-out was great and more costumes, divination**, and Halloween craziness ensued.


This random Japanese guy was wasted:

I just made the last train Keiko’s, and she was tired too, so the horror movie never happened.

A great, great day. One of those days where nothing feels like a chore, and you just have fun with everything you do. It’s got me thinking – a few more of those around the place wouldn’t hurt. So, my next mission; organising a pub quiz.

*I’m very against using American vocab in my lessons but ‘candy’ seems to have stuck. I’m not sure why. ‘Soccer’ is also digging its way into my stream of consciousness.
**I picked travelling – I guess I will be next year – whether it’s good or bad is yet to be determined…