Ramon in Japan

Three Hours in Kumamoto

2006-07-18T23:59:00.000-07:00

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)-----

Code name: "Shochu City"

2006-07-17T23:59:00.000-07:00

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.

The Most Famous Festival in Japan

2006-07-16T23:59:00.000-07:00

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 : )

The Bridge to Heaven

2006-07-16T23:58:00.000-07:00

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.

First night in Kyoto

2006-07-15T23:59:00.000-07:00

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 : )

Welcome Back Nomikai

2006-07-14T23:59:00.000-07:00

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.

Nippon One More Time

2006-07-04T23:59:00.000-07:00

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.

Yamanashi

2006-07-02T23:59:00.000-07:00

Hakone

2006-06-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

Nara

2006-06-28T23:59:00.000-07:00

Kyoto

2006-06-26T23:59:00.000-07:00

Hiroshima

2006-06-24T23:59:00.000-07:00

Matsushima

2006-06-22T23:59:00.000-07:00

Sendai

2006-06-20T23:59:00.000-07:00

Nagoya

2006-06-18T23:59:00.000-07:00

Osaka

2006-06-16T23:59:00.000-07:00

75 Dollar Steak!

2006-06-14T23:59:00.000-07:00

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.

White Heron Castle

2006-06-12T23:59:00.000-07:00

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!

Magnificent Miyajima

2006-06-10T23:59:00.000-07:00

Many people who travel to Japan only visit Tokyo. This is unfortunate because Japan is much more than just Tokyo. During my spring break, I decided to escape from the urban jungle of Tokyo and explore west of Tokyo with one of my friends from school. The first place we visited during our spring break adventure was Miyajima. Also known as Itsuku-shima, Miyajima is one of Japan's 3 best views. The picture on the left is Miyajima's famous floating Shinto shrine Gate.

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.

Oragel in Otaru

2006-06-08T23:59:00.000-07:00

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.

Shogatsu in Sapporo

2006-06-06T23:59:00.001-07:00

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.

Waseda Waseda Waseda

2006-06-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

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.

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.

Blogger Virgin No More

2006-06-04T23:59:00.000-07:00

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!