Arriving in Kanto Region
DAY 1 - I slept most the time aboard the airplane from Hong Kong to Japan,
waking up only twice to get something to drink and to eat lunch. I
was exhausted and needed the rest because I had moved around a lot
and gotten very little sleep the past week. I had been flying from
Taiwan to Hong Kong, doing all the last minute shopping, and meeting
friends for the last times. I was reading manga past midnight hours
at James's house in Taiwan, packing all night at Raymond's house,
and not getting a minute of sleep the night before. I woke up 10
minutes before landing. The sky was dark, with a steady pour of rain.
After getting off the airplane, I rode the airport bus to the
terminals. The customs guy was surprised that I had a basketball
in my luggage. After exitting the I planned to call Junichi, however
to my surprised, he was already waiting for me! The feeling of
meeting in Japan was kind of strange, as if I was a parasite invading
his established world. Anyhow, we rode the JR all the way to Hiratsuka.
Junichi Picks Me Up!
DAY 2 - Junichi's Tour of Hiratsuka & Kamakura
DAY 3 - I was to move over to Makiko's place in the morning but she
was busy cleaning up. As a result I had lunch at Jun's place. Her
mom made akoutai (a kind of fish), umeboshi (pinking sour plum),
mentaiko (fish egg), and satuma-age (fried fish patty). Junichi
accompanied me to Makiko's house in Oomori. I met both of her
parents. I had actually met her mom before when in Hong Kong.
Anyway, I had dinner with some of my brother Tom's friends, Tadashi
and Tomo, at Shinjuku. The Italian food was pretty good. Tadashi
is a vending machine refiller/truck driver for Kirin Beverage (but
he will soon be sacchou ^_^) and Tomo is working for Citizen. That
night I stayed at Makiko's brother's room. Her brother was currently
an exchange student in America.
DAY 4 - Makiko & I took the JR to Shin-Yokohama, where we met Yuko.
I had met Yuko earlier this year when she visited Hong Kong during
Lunar New Year. As we went outside the station, I saw many people
waving flags around to direct people and stop and go signals. It is
supposedly a punishment for violating traffic laws. Admission to the
Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum costs 350 yen. Inside was a recreation
of Meiji era shops. The delicious raumen I had costed about 1200 yen,
but it was worth every single yen. Afterwards, we played those little
carnival games. There were many "fake" policemen patrolling around
the place, smiling at people. Upstairs were exhibits on raumen -
instant raumens throughout the world and throughout time. We took a
rest at Burger King before heading back to Makiko's house. Dinner
was delicious sukiyaki. Desert was the mochi that Yuko bought.
Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum
Recreation of Edo Period Japan
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Makiko Shoots a Rifle
Makiko & Yuko Remembering Their Youth
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Noodles of the World
Burger King Queens
Drinking Coffee at Makiko's Home
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DAY 5 - I woke up pretty late today but it was okay because it takes
Makiko a long time to get prepared. ^_^ Today, our trip was to Sophia
University. I wanted to take a look at life there. We ate at the
university cafeteria. I also met Makiko's friend Ryuhei. I haven't
seen him since the time we went to Macau together. Tomoe had invited
me to a small party at night. The party was organized by Ayumi Homma,
who was a CUHK exchange student the year before my year. Of course,
Tomoe knew here because Tomoe was at CUHK for 2 years. The party was
at Ooji. I also met some other people at the party, such as Tomoe's
former roomate, Wendy, and Wendy's boyfriend. Ayumi's older sister,
Sakaya, was telling about her experiences riding around in a bicycle
in Hokkaido. She gave me advice about what places are good to travel
to. It was interesting because I would soon be going there!
The food consisted of Nikujaga, sushi, some Chinese, and eggs.
Sophia University
Makiko's Mom
Warren, Sakaya, Tomoe, Ayumi, Wendy & her boyfriend & his pupil
DAY 6 - Ryuhei came over to Makiko's house to cook lunch today. We
had to go to the nearby supermarket to get all the necessary
ingredients to make carbonalla, and to make salad. Ryuhei was very
used to making pasta because he said that during his stay in England,
it was expensive (not to mention bad-tasting) eating out. We
received a phone call from Yoshil, who was coming down to Tokyo. When
we met him in Ameyoko-cho, he was in a business suit because he was
still in the middle of his job search. Yoshi & Makiko wanted ice
cream so we rested for a while. I told Yoshi about my Hokkaido plan
and I was very right in doing so because Yoshi is a seasoned traveler
of Japan. He recommended places to go and even helped me look up the
train guide. He also told me that he'll help me plan to trip when he
goes back to Nagoya! Dinner was Negitoudon, consisting of spring onion,
tuna, and rice. It was very good, but not fulfilling enough, so I got
some chawanmushi, steamed unsweet egg pudding. Dinner was pretty
pricey, about 1400 yen. Yoshi also gave me some Nagoya omiyage,
uirou, some sort of jello. Ryuhei told us about what
he was doing - he was the ace of the Sophia baseball team and was in
the midst of trying to get back into shape because there were some
pretty good freshman pitchers.
A Festival Atmosphere
A Giraffe Crane?
top: Hawaiian shirts are popular in Japan.
right: Visiting Ameyayokocho with Yoshi, Ryuhei & Makiko.
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DAY 7 - Makiko made me some cereal for breakfast this morning. She
took me to Ryuhei's apartment because I would be staying the night
at his place today. We caught him at a bad time because he was
still sleepy. I wanted to see Keio University, and what better person
to go there with than Junichi. I was supposed to meet him at Tamachi
JR station and to my surprise, he was all dressed up in a suit. He
had some job thing to take care of today. Anyway, we went off to Keio
University. To my surprise the front gate looked so plain, and there w
was not even a sign! Again, I ate at the university cafeteria. I
guess I like doing this because I get to spent more time soaking
in the atmosphere of the university. The katsu rice was quite plain.
I wrote some email before taking a look at the famous building here,
the library. Unfortunately, I couldn't enter because I was not a
student here. After I left Junichi at 4:00 pm, I did some shopping
at Akihabara. I had dinner with Ryuhei's mom, Atsuko. She made
some beef/onion/mushroom/green pepper mix. She surprised me a little
when she took a polaroid photo of us and then asked me to sign it.
She really has all sorts of foods in her house, especially that of
wine and tea. She told me that she drinks a bottle of wine every 3
days. After Ryuhei came home that night, I chatted with him before
I went to sleep. I slept on the floor with a blanket but no mattress.
It was nevertheless comfortable.
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left: Library
top: Entrance to Keio University
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Junichi looks like a cool businessman.
DAY 8 & 9 - Yukako's Tokyo Tour
| @ Shibuya
left: girl advertising outside a store
bottom: Bus advertising a GLAY concert
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DAY 10 - I woke up at 5:00am easily, perhaps because of the excitement
of the upcoming trip. Ryuhei's mom made me some breakfast. She also
gave me two rice balls and a bottle of oolong cha before I parted
with them at around 6:30. On the way to Tokyo station, I misread the
map and had to transfer twice. I ran to catch the Shinkansen headed
for Morioka but I missed it! In fact, I saw it going away, and away
as I was on the wrong platform. I got the ticket for the 8:36 train
instead.
Ryuhei is not a morning person.
Ryuhei's mom cooked me breakfast.
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Passing Through Saitama in Shinkansen
On Towards To Hokkaido