Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Three Hours in Kumamoto

My friend had to go to work early in the morning, so Boris and I had to leave her house kind of early. We spend some time at a manga cafe before we took the train to Kumamoto. The train ride to Kumamoto was less than 2 hours and was free because we had the JR pass.

After arriving at Kumamoto Station, we went to the tourist information center to get some information about good Kumamoto Basashi restaurants. We also got information about other attractions in Kumamoto.

After about a half an hour of researching restaurants in the area, we decided to dine at Aoyagi Restaurant. It wasn't too far from Kumamoto Station, so we thought we could just get there, eat some of the famous Kumamoto Basashi, and then have time to visit other places in Kumamoto. However, it took us about 2 hours to finish the meal because they don't bring all of the food out at one time. Similar to when you're eating gourmet food in such that the portions are often small, but are brought out in a time sequence. In other words, if you eat food too fast, you might still be hungry. But if you take time between each portion of food, then somehow your stomach settles and you become full.

The pictures below are images of the lunch special that we had. Unfortunately, I could not get a good picture of all of the food we ate, but these pictures are of notable mention. I hope they don't make you too hungry : )

---Basashi Sukiyaki-----------Renkon-----------------Basashi Sashimi----

------Dangojiru(Soup)--------Basashi Onigiri -----Daganamei(Rice)-----

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Monday, July 17, 2006

Code name: "Shochu City"

I left Kyoto in the late afternoon and got into Fukuoka in the early evening. One of the first things I noticed before I left the station was a shochu stand. They were selling shochu refreshments for only 100 yen, which is kind of cheap for shochu if your outside of Korea. I bought a cup and then went on my merry way.

My friend Yuuki picked me up at the station and then took me to her house to drop of some of my stuff. Acutally, she is letting me stay at her house for a couple of nights, which is great for my low budget. After relaxing a little bit at her house, we decided to go to Canal City .

Canal City is one of the most beau-tiful shopping areas I have seen in Japan. However, it seems to be geared more to the female consu-mer market than us fellows. So there are lot of couples and women all over the place.

After walking around a little bit, we decided to get some of Hakata's famous tonkotsu ramen at Canal City's Ramen Stadium. One of the things I missed most about Japan after I left was the tonkotsu ramen. So you can imagine how anxious I was to eat tonkotsu ramen again.

After dinner, we decided to walk around a bit before returning home. On the way to the train station, we passed by Hakata's famous yataimura area(late night food stands). It almost felt like walking around the corner of Kentucky Fried Chicken. That feeling that even though you have eaten already, that whiff of the Colonel's chicken all of a sudden makes you want to eat again.

Tommorrow, my friend has to work during the day, so Boris and me will try to go to Kumamoto on our own and have the famous Kumamoto Basashi.


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Sunday, July 16, 2006

The Most Famous Festival in Japan

After returning from a 2 hour ride from Amanohashidate, my friend took us to the Gion Festival which was held around down-town Kyoto(Yoiyama). As soon as we got off the train, there were swarms of people everywhere wearing beautiful yukatas.

Walking outside of the station got a little bit more tricky because we were literally elbow to elbow with the 1000's of people filliing up the streets. It was quite hard to move in any other direction but the direction of the crowd. In other words, we were quite helpless until we reached a big intersection in which we had a little breathing space to figure out what we wanted to do.

One of the many famous things about the Gion Festival are the gigantic structures that display beautifully huge lanterns all around town. It is really hard to get a good picture because it is so crowded and hard to find a good picture taking spot.

After walking around a bit, my stomach started to talk to Boris, so we decided that we should get something to eat. Festival food is really something to enjoy because it is one of the only times when pigging out is okay! For all of those people who are watching their weight, perhaps the Gion Festival is something to avoid since there are so many food booths that offer delicious food. The dangerous thing is that there are many booths that sell the same thing. So if you really like okonomiyaki and want seconds, you do not have to walk back to the original booth for there will be another okonomiyaki booth waiting for you.

Some of the foods to expect in festivals are yakitori(Grilled Chicken on a stick), okonomiyaki(Pancake meets pizza), takoyaki(Octopus), and kakigori(Shaved Ice). There was one thing that was really good that I think people in America would like. It is called "omuretsu doggu and it is a frankfurt hotdog wrapped up in fried egg batter on a stick covered with mayonaisse and ketchup. Unfortunately, it was so good that I forgot to take a picture. My hands were also kind of sticky from eating all of the festival food, so I was not able to take many pictures.

After eating, we decided to call it a night and head home. Something I found interesting when trying to leave the festival was that there were cones and barriers in the middle of the road that seperated and organized the flow of the crowd. So people coming in to the festival stayed on one side of the road while other people who were leaving or trying to get to other parts of the fefstival stayed on the other side of the road. I guess this helps make walking with thousands of people on the same road easier because you do not have to contend or weave through people coming from the opposite direction.

Tomorrow, we head for Fukuoka to meet my friend Yuuki. I hear Fukuoka is a drinking town, so I stayed away from alcohol during the Gion Festival to save my liver for Fukuoka. If you do not see updates for a few days, it probablly mean I have passed out from all of the drinking : )

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The Bridge to Heaven

On Sunday, I met up with my friend Asami at Kyoto Station. We decided to go to Amanohashidate, which is one of Japan's three most scenic views(nihon sankei). It took 2 hours to reach Amano-hashidate from Kyoto Station. We used the JR pass about 3/4 of the way, but we had to connect to a non-JR train, which cost 1000 yen one way : (

To get a good view of Amano-hasidate, we went to one of the viewing platforms which you have to take a sort of ski lift to get there. Once up there, it felt like a small amusement park because of all of the small attractions such as the mini roller coaster and the souvenir booths. Legend has it that if you look between your legs when on the viewing platform, you are suppose to be able to see a 'bridge to heaven'. At first I couldn't really see anything, but after being in that position for a while, I guess all of the blood kind of rushed to my head and I got a little dizzy. At this moment, I felt like I could see the 'bridge to heaven'. The view is not as breath taking as Miyajima, but it is still something to see if you have a free afternoon in Northern Kyoto.





Posted by Ramon at 11:58 PM | | Comments

Saturday, July 15, 2006

First night in Kyoto

The last time we travelled around Japan, we used the Seishun Juhachi Kippu, which is an all you can ride on Japan Railways ticket that is good for 5 days. This time however, we will use the Japan Rail Pass which is an excellent buy if you are travelling in Japan. The Japan Railway works kind of like the Seishun Juhachi Kippu, but can also be used to ride the Shinkansen(bullet train).

The train schedule did not allow us too much time to stop by a restaurant and grab a bite to eat. So we bought some snack food for the food booths in the Shinkansen Station and ate it on the train. The above picture is a picture of "hire katsu sando", which is like a fried breaded pork cutlet sandwhich. It was really good and quite satisfying. I recommend hire katsu sando to anyone who likes pork.

Because we left Tokyo kind of late, we arrived in Kyoto around 6 pm. I met up with my friend Makiko, who is from Shiga, a neighboring area to Kyoto. We wanted to go to the guest house that we had reserved so that we could drop off our heavy bags. However, we got lost and ended up walking around for an hour. Normally, an hour is not so bad, but when you have a heavy bag with you, 30 minutes is torture. So we decided to take a break and grab a bite to eat. Makiko took us to this Okonomiyaki Place in this underground eating area called "Zest". There we had "modern okonomiyaki, which is kind of like a pancake on top of soba noodles. It was really good and hit the spot.

However, we had to get to the hostel before 10 pm to check in, and it was already 9:40 when our Okonomiyaki had come. So we had to eat it really fast and then run. I had to call another friend who is more familiar with the area to help us find the guest house. Finally, after walking in the right direction for a few minutes, we found the guest house. It was a good thing that we found the guest house when we did, because a few moments later, it began to rain. We checked in and immediately went to our rooms. I was really tired because I had not slept good in the past few days and all of the running to find the Guest House had taken its toll. So I went laid out all of my things and then went to bed. Boris however, went out drinking with someone who was also staying at the guest house. He went to this bar that serves drinks past 2am!

Tomorrow, we will meet up with my friend Asami and go to Amanohasidate in the afternoon and the Gion Festival at night. Wow, doesn't that picture of the okonomiyaki look so good : )

Posted by Ramon at 11:59 PM | | Comments

Friday, July 14, 2006

Welcome Back Nomikai

I arrived at Narita Airport on time. However, I had to wait two hours for Boris to arrive on his flight from LA. So, I walked around trying to warm up my Japanese by speaking with some of the people working at the cellular phone booths. Two hours passed really fast and before I knew it, Boris arrived and we caught the next train into Tokyo.

We arrived at Takadanobaba Station and walked to my old dormitory. As we walked along Takadanobaba Street, we began to reminisce our old hang outs. Along the way, we caught a wiff of the irresistable scent of choco crossiant. So we went inside, bought a choco crossiant, and then went on our way.

Thirty minutes later, we arrived at my old dormitory and just like old times, we had a nomikai(drinking party). Afterwards, we went out for a bite to eat at Udatsu's, which is a place I went to often when I studied at Waseda University. Unfortunately, the dish that I had been craving for a year was sold out and I had to settle for Negi Tsukemen.

After we got back to the dorm, I chatted with my dorm friends for a while and then called it a night. I slept in my old room, which is great because it has air conditioning. Air conditioning is vital when it is summer in Japan. Tomorrow, I will meet up with one of my friends to pick up my cell phone and then head to Kyoto for a few days. Talk to you later.

Posted by Ramon at 11:59 PM | | Comments

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Nippon One More Time

Howdy y'all. Well, I have been selected to study abroad to Korea during the month of August. This program is awesome because the Korean government is waiving a lot of fees for students in this program. Which means that accomadations, tuition, and local transportation is all free. The school is also providing me with a personal liason, who will be my buddy for the duration of the program. So I don't have to worry about getting lost or getting into trouble. The only expenses I will have to cover is food and the airplane ticket. However, they are subsidizing the airplane ticket and will reimburse me 450 dollars. So basically, I get to spend a month in Korea for only about 700 dollars. Pretty good deal if I might say so myself.

It only takes about 2 hours by plane from Tokyo to Seoul. This means that going to Korea will give me an opportunity to stop by Japan again. I mean, if I am spending that much time travelling to the other side of the world, I might as well stop by Japan while I am at it. So I have decided to take a 15 day layover in Japan. I leave for Japan on July 13th and will not have to be in Korea until July 30th. My friend Boris from Los Angeles will also accompany me on this 2nd adventure in Japan. The majority of our trip will be spent in Kyuushuu and the Kansai area. The only thing we have planned in detail is our first 3 nights in Japan. Other than that, we are just going to take it day by day and go with the flow.

Well, only 9 more days until I am in Japan again. Before I know it, it will be only 9 more hours until I am in Japan again. Funny how times flies that week before you travel.

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Sunday, July 02, 2006

Yamanashi



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