Friday, June 30, 2006
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Monday, June 26, 2006
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Friday, June 16, 2006
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
75 Dollar Steak!
It seems like every city in Japan is famous for some kind of local cuisine. My friends in Tokyo told me that if I ever go to Kobe, that I should try the beef. So because Kobe is right next door to Himeji, I decided to stop by Kobe for dinner and try this Kobe beef that I have heard so much about. In the early evening, Boris and me arrived at Kobe Station in search for a nice restaurant that served Kobe Beef. We walked around the station to find everything buy a Kobe Beef restaurant. After hearing my stomach growl one ot many times, I finally just asked some people off the street for some help. To my surprise, they did not even know of a good Kobe Beef restaurant in the area. So we went back inside the station and asked one of the station employees if they could help us find where the Kobe Beef is and how we can get there. It turns out that most of the Kobe Beef restaurants were around the next train station of Sannomiya. So we hopped on the train again and went to Sannomiya.
After getting off at Sannomiya Station, we walked around the area and still could not fine any Kobe Beef restaurants. By this time, my stomach was really fed up with this Kobe Beef and was about to settle for something else. But I could tell my friends that I went to Kobe and did not have the beef. So we went back to the Sannomiya Statioin and asked one of the station ticket officers if he knew of any good Kobe Beef Restaurants. Surprisingly, he took out this map that had all of the Kobe Beef Restaurants in the area!
Some of the restaurants listed on the map were asking for more than $100 for a piece of steak! A couple of restaurants even quoted a $150 dollar price tag on a piece of Kobe Beef!! If Kobe has been towards the end of our trip and I had some money left over, then perhaps I would of just paid $150 price tag. But we still had a lot of traveling left and could not take a chance of running out of cash too early. So we settled for this restaurant that listed a Kobe Beef dinner for $75.
The steak was actually pretty good, but probablly would of had the same satisfaction from a $20 steak back home. I did not find the steak that extraordinary delicious to be so widely famous throughout Japan. Perhaps it is because I had the $75 steak instead of the $150 steak. I guess I will have to go back to Kobe and have the $150 steak. Maybe then I can say I really had Kobe Beef.
Monday, June 12, 2006
White Heron Castle
The weather gods must of favored us on our trip through Western Japan because it seems like everyplace we went had excellent weather. After leaving Miyajima, me and my friend Boris went to Himeji, which is between Hiroshima and Kobe. Himeji is famous for Himeji Castle, which is the most spectacular castle in all of Japan. Nicknamed as the "White Heron" castle for its white walls, Himeji is one of the oldest surviving wooden castles in Japan. When we came out of Himeji Station, we immediately saw Himeji Castle. It's almost more beautiful from a far than it is upclose. The main road that leads to Himeji Castle is this magnificent stretch of blocks that offers a heart pounding view of the castle as well as many strinkingly interesting statues that line up the streets. As we got closer to Himeji Castle, I felt like I was in a movie marching to Rome. The walk to Himeji takes less than 20 minutes and is rather enjoyable.
The real estate of Himeji is huge and will take a half a day if you want to see everything. Before you go inside of the castle, you have to take off your shoes. So make sure you have a good pair of socks on. Once you get inside, it is kind of dark with much of the light coming from the windows. Going to the top floor in the castle is quite a task because the stairs leading up are quite narrow and the steps are small. They are also kind of slippery if you have socks on. I felt like I was going to tumble down the stairs a few times, so I grabbed on the hand rail as if my life depended on it.
We arrived to Himeji Castle kind of near closing, so we did not have the luxury of seeing everything. But if you would like to see more of Himeji Castle, you can take a virtual tour by clicking here. Enjoy!
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Magnificent Miyajima
In order to get to Miyajima, we had to take a ferry there. One of the first things I noticed when I got to the island was that there are a lot of deer just hanging out all over the place. After hanging out with the deer for a few minutes, we made our way to the ryokan(Japanese hotel) that we reserved. The ryokan was about 150 dollars a night, which is actually a good deal considering that during peak seasons, the cost jumps to around 300 dollars a night. However, the cost is well worth it for the excellent service that they provide and the awesome dinner that is included in the price. The ryokan in Miyajima is one of my best memories in Japan and I recommend anyone who comes to Japan to try a really nice Ryokan at least once before you leave. Trust me, you will have an awesome experience.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Oragel in Otaru
Towards the end of my stay in Hokkaido, I had a chance to visit Otaru, which is in central Hokkaido. Sometimes referred to as the 'Venice of Japan', Otaru has many small shops that specialize in glass blowing and souvenir type of gifts. Otaru is also the hometown of this famous entertainer in the 1960's and 1970's named 'Yujiro Ishihara'. He was so famous that they created a museum in honor of his death. My mom's birthday was coming up, so I popped into a few stores and looked for some novelty items that I thought would amuze her. The picture on the left is a picture of this place I went to called 'Otaru Oragel'. I found this neat mirror with two crystal figurines that dance when you turn on the music of the mirror box. Somehow it reminded me of the waltz between Cinderella and the Prince or that dance scene in the 'Beauty and the Beast'. I thought my mom would get a kick out of it and so I bought it. There was not too much other stuff to do in Otaru besides shop and eat. So after I did a little shopping for Hokkaido Souvenirs to take back to my friends in Tokyo, I went back to Sapporo and waited for my flight back to Tokyo.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Shogatsu in Sapporo
Towards the end of December and into the new year, I spent some time in Hokkaido. My relatives live in Sapporo, which is the 5th largest city in Japan and the capital of Hokkaido. When I got into Sapporo, it was snowing. This was the first time I had ever seen snow falling, so I thought it was quite beautiful. However, I had luggage in both arms and was without an umbrella. So after walking for a few blocks, I had looked like a snowman.
I decided to take a break from the snow and stopped by a convenient store. One of the many things I fell in love with in Japan was karaage chicken, which is kind of like chicken nuggets. After my purchase, I went outside the store to snack on my fresh karaage. However, as I opened the container, somehow the karaage popped outside the box and spilled onto the floor. It was a very sad moment. However, I was very hungry and was not about to let fresh karaage go to waste. So I followed the 5-second rule and salvaged what I could.
On New Year's Day, I ate the traditional mochi and soup that people in Japan eat for 3 straight days. During this time, only breakfast and dinner is eaten. The breakfast mochi is so filling, that you will not need to eat lunch. That purple looking food in the lower left hand corner of the picture on the right is the mochi. The mochi was really good, but I wasn't too crazy about the ebi shrimp in the soup. It is hard for me to eat anything that has the eyes still attached.
After breakfast, my relatives took me to a local temple to pray for the new year. I almost died trying to walk up the stairs to the temple. The stairs were so slippery that it took me a good 15 minutes to reach the top.
When I reached the top, there was an unbelievable long line to get to the alter where one prays for the new year. I did not have to wait that long in line, but by the time I got to the front of the line, my feet were frozen. The next time I go to Hokkaido during the winter, I am definitely bringing winter boots.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Waseda Waseda Waseda
As some of you may know, I went to Japan in 2004 and lived there for a year. During this time, I studied at Waseda University's School of International Liberal Studies. SILS for short, is a mixture of native Japanese students and International students such as myself. Although Waseda University, which is sometimes referred to as the Harvard of Japan and has been around for almost 125 years, the SILS department had only been in it's first year of existence when I was there. In other words, I was a guinea pig! When I was not at school, I spent a great deal of time hanging out at with people from my dormitory.
Wakeijuku Dormitory is about 10 minutes away from Waseda University by foot. So even when I stayed out and partied all night long, I was able to tumble out of bed 10 minutes before school started and walk to school. For those of you who are wondering about the morning shower, the custom for most Japanese people is to take a shower and enter an ofuro(hot tub) at night. So in trying to fit in with Japanese customs, I would usually take a shower before I went to sleep.
Wakeijuku Dormitory is about 10 minutes away from Waseda University by foot. So even when I stayed out and partied all night long, I was able to tumble out of bed 10 minutes before school started and walk to school. For those of you who are wondering about the morning shower, the custom for most Japanese people is to take a shower and enter an ofuro(hot tub) at night. So in trying to fit in with Japanese customs, I would usually take a shower before I went to sleep.
The year in Japan gave me an opportunity to meet people from all around the world. This helped me learn more about the world as well as myself.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Blogger Virgin No More
I have always wanted to write about the moments of my life and share them with family and friends. Everyone I know seems to be blogging their lives over the Internet. When I came back from Japan in 2005, some of my friends introduced me to blogging tools such as Myspace and Mixi. However, I was so busy with readjusting to American life and preparing for a new semester of school that I put blogging at the bottom of my list of things to do. Almost a year later, the memories of Japan that were so fresh in my mind in 2005 had started to fade. So I began to explore some ways to maintain the memories of moments that have past as well as ways to share the adventures that are currently alive.
Last month, one of my friends had returned from a 3 week trip around Japan. During her adventure in the land of the rising sun, she kept a travelogue and posted it on this website called Blogger. I was so impressed with her daily blog entries that it motivated me to start a travelogue of my own. After some research, I decided to use Blogger because the interface is easy to use and does not require any knowledge of HTML to create a blog. I still have a great deal to learn about blogging and am experimenting with ways to improve my blog. Ganbarimasu!
Last month, one of my friends had returned from a 3 week trip around Japan. During her adventure in the land of the rising sun, she kept a travelogue and posted it on this website called Blogger. I was so impressed with her daily blog entries that it motivated me to start a travelogue of my own. After some research, I decided to use Blogger because the interface is easy to use and does not require any knowledge of HTML to create a blog. I still have a great deal to learn about blogging and am experimenting with ways to improve my blog. Ganbarimasu!