JapanBox

Nikko

2008-07-07T04:00:00.000-07:00

Nikko is breath taking. Ill write more about it soon

Hey Hey Hiroshima

2008-06-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

We went to this strange and beautiful temple gallery today. they dressed me up like... i dunno.. a monk?
The views were amazing
It looks pretty strange from outside, kinda like a massive cult enclave
but the views are great
we went to a niku place with cut for you last weekend
And above in my work farewell party. My boss asked the chef if i could make the okonomiyaki myself. I think to her surprise he said yes. my expression is after a terrible flip. mine at this stage was about a third the size of the others
but it turned out ok. it had oysters and everything!!
my colleagues.well the blue shirt guy starts in couple of weeks.

the very charasmatic twin chefs. guess how old they are
Miyuki san. my diligent and bubbly japanese teacher. we went to dinner after my last class.

Strolling in May

2008-05-31T04:03:00.000-07:00

I went for a stroll on my bike the other day. I bought some riceballs and a beer and sat in the park and ate. it was a beautiful day.

Carp Castle

2008-04-22T03:01:00.000-07:00

Random Tandem

2008-04-14T00:11:00.000-07:00

I (flic) currently find myself with excess internet access time and not alot to do with it, so I thought I would post up an array, selection, or even 'montage' if you will, of some photos old and new that have not appeared in previous posts for various time constraint reasons. So here goes....

this is just one section of the amazing meal we got at the ryokan we stayed at when we visited Dogo onsen on the island of Shikoku

This photo was taken on the sacred island of Miyajima just off Hiroshima's coast to illustrate that deer (shika in japanese) are not unlike goats in their tendency to eat whatever they can fit in their mouths.

This is a closeup of Japan's cherry blossom flowers (Sakura) that only bloom once a year and then slowly fall away little by little from their branches.

This Naka chan : owner of Fran the pug, inventor of the spinball bowling technique in tenpin bowling, known for his colour and highlighting skills at Cut For You salon, and also his amazing ability to spurt out random and amusing english phrases when drunk after two beers.

I don't think this one needs a caption, do you?

This is Take chan : the second longest-serving stylist employed by Chief at Cut For You, an avid brewer of Plum Wine(as you can see ) she enjoys travelling to Northern Europe and giggling hysterically at funny things alex or i say in either english or japanese. she also has the most individual and creative fashion sense at cut for you, and is great at throwing sushi parties!

This surprise shot captures Chief himself in front and his right hand woman Ma Chan at the back. Chief is one of Hiroshima's top hairdressers and has owned and run his own business for 18 years. Ma Chan has been working there for 12. Chief is a night-owl who loves dress-up drinking parties and playing the drums. He has proclaimed many times that Alex and I are his children and to repeat after him; "I am Nakatani" (Nakatani is his family name). Without his generosity and influence we would not be in the cushy apartment we are now. Ma Chan is cute and soft spoken but still runs the ship. She has a penchant for baggy frilly dresses and as such is often mistaken for a child.

The adventures of Snufflepug and Lazypie

2008-04-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

This bug-eyed and slobbering but strangely adorable creature is Fran-chan, the pug that Alex and I babysat/borrowed from our friend Naka chan a couple of times. Once you have tired her out enough that she will actually sit down she is quite sociable, very cute and likes to imitate a cat and curl up on your lap. Before that point however, she is a grunting, snuffling, chewing, slobbering cyclone of 'LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME!!'. I decided that Snufflepug was a much more befitting nickname for her. We had many an adventure together, including walking to Peace park and having our photo taken by lots of old ladies and teenage girls, sitting at an outdoor cafe annoying grumpy old men, and lying on our sofa shedding incredible amounts of hair.

This is The A-Bomb dome viewed through the blooming cherry blossoms in Peace park.

Lazypie would be me, because I am being spoilt at 'work' when we're not busy because the girls get bored and want to experiment on my gaijin hair. (See below - excuse the drunken expression but you get the idea) So that is my little update on my recent adventures. I'm sorry it's not as aesthetically pleasing as Alex's contributions!

Hisashiburi

2008-04-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

Hiroshima in all of its sunny, rivery glory!

Kareoke. Japanese people are insanely good at it. so is flic actually. i think i must be the only person in this country who cant sing
We had a dinner party. Japanese people get drunk after one beer, so it was a good night

Dougo onsen was beautiful
A huge spoon

Alex Grigg, man or moutain
aA sushi party a friend threw!
Its sakura!

Long time no see blog.

i think the longer i put off writing you the harder it got. theres a lot that has happened in the last few months, but hopefully photos will help me get this blog up to date
THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS, its gunna take me a couple of sittings to get this bad boy together

Tokyo Prt... Next

2008-01-25T04:55:00.000-08:00

Today I made the day plan. I made it massive. First we went to the Tokyo Fish markets. Unfortunately these were distinctly disapointing. The fish markets i had pictured werent open to the puplic so we were left explore the external market. It was interesting but hardly the live crabs and kicking fish i had envisioned. On the up side we had some beautiful fresh sashimi as a second breakfast. Next we headed to Ueno park. An expansive puplic park full of museums, galleries and a zoo. We went to the zoo for a couple of hours.
Flic is still getting over her illness so she went back to the hostel to rest, and i went to the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo. It was huge. It was entirely japanese art dating back to the start of the 1900s until now.
Then i made my way to Akihabara (or electric town). This is the tokyo i had expected to see. It was an expansive section of the city entirely dedicated to electronics and anime. I spent about 3 hours searching through the multi level electronics and toy shops, buying super donuts and using rocket toilets. I bought an awsome capcome art book for about $25 (it'd sell for about 60 in aus)
and i bought flic a silly little toy thing. It would have been so easy to buy heaps of stuff there. But alas the thought of not having a job or a home yet helped strengthen my self restraint.

The Markets--

Alex
A giant Salamanda
The Tokyo Modern art Museum
Akihabara--

Tokyo Prt 3.

2008-01-22T21:31:00.000-08:00

Guess what. It snows in Tokyo. It only snows about 5 days a year though. This mornings snow was awesome. Big fat fluffy snow flakes.

We went on a tour of tokyo this morning. It was good having some information on the places we were visiting for a change. The guide was a very funny japanese guy. He had a lot of great anecdotes. some of them were about the places we were visiting, but a lot of them were about Japan, Japanese people, religion and philosophy.

Alex in a Snowy Shinto Shrine near the middle of Tokyo. Its amazing that they have such a huge reserve in the middle of a place like Tokyo. I think its about 77 hectares--
This is what snow looks like.

This is part of the east imperial garden
Flic was starting to get a Migraine at luch time so i took here back to the hostel. The other lovegroves are still out on the tour. Maybe they will have some more photos to check out.

Tokyo Prt 2

2008-01-22T04:47:00.001-08:00

Hello Blog,

First I`ll show you some photos from the end of our Kyoto Trip- The first is the last temple we visited. There are thousands of big orange Tori gates that make a path up a moutain. Very impressive.

The second is part of the entrance to the temple
Now Tokyo! I cant really comprehend how big tokyo is. I think it is really is just to big to properly grasp. Because it feels like any big city. Well what we have seen so far has. I think what is remakable is that it is like any big city but 10 times as big... I dunno, we are going on a bus tour tomorow, so i think after that I should have a slightly better grasp of the situation.

This is a very unrepresentive picture of Tokyo. It really doesnt show the sea of people or the 80 metre tall lcd moving billboards. Ill try and take one in focus tomorow night
We met up with my friend Maruna today. It was lovely to see her. She has been in Tokyo for the last month.
This is what beer is served in in Japan.

Tokyo Prt1

2008-01-21T04:12:00.000-08:00

heya guys,

Sorry guys no photos just yet. Soon though

we got to tokyo this afternoon. We caught the shinkansen(bullet train) from kyoto to here. Ive never seen anything like it! it goes sooooo fast. entire cities wiz by as you watch. if you glance away, the moutain ranges will change completely by the time you look back. the trip took about two and a bit hours and it was the distance from brissy to rocky. very cool.

We havent seen much of Tokyo yet, just the train station (at peak hour) and the hostel. He had dinner at a little ramen shop but flic forgot her electronic dictionary so i ordered a meal at random based on its price. It wasnt the best descision ive made. It ended up being cold ramen with a side of weird soup stuff- it tasted kind of like pure beef stock mixed with oil. On the plus side we found out Asahi sell even bigger bottles than we thought, so beer for all. Oh and on the search for the restraunt an old man pulled down his pants in the street. that put us a little on edge until we drowned our memories.

The hostel is nice. Very cosy rooms (meaning small) but awesome bathrooms.

take care

Alex

Kyoto

2008-01-20T03:13:00.000-08:00

Hello blog,

We have spent the last two days here in Kyoto. It is a beautiful peppered with dozens of shrines and temples. we spent yesterday visiting Kiyomizu and Nijojo Castle. Nijojo Castle is near the middle of the city and has hand painted screens through out it. Kiyomizu is one of the most famous temples in Japan and is on the outskirts of the city, surrounded by pine forrest. Today we saw the Golden Pavilion or Kinkakuji and Sanjusangen-do. Most people would probably recognise the Golden Pavilion, it is the temple by a beautiful lake covered completely with gold. It stands out from the green of the pineforest beatufully. Sanjusangen is a budhist temple that houses 1001 hand made 6 foot tall wooden statues of Kannon, the Budhist goddess of mercy, each with 40 arms. There are also 28 wooden statues of the budhist gaurdian dieties. Dont I sound like a lonely plannet guide! No but really, these places were all awsome, and very surreal to walk through. This is how Ive intrepted Japan so far i think.
Spot the Alex! Kiyomizu temple(well a very small part of it)
More of Kiyomizu

Alex Drinks from a stream meant to give him either long life, love or money. I dont know which one I chose, but i dont think i can go to far wrong. (at Kiyomizu)
Alex presents shrine
Kinkakuji. The golden pavillion
Alex, Felicity and Kinkakuji-
The entrance of Nijojo Castle

Hope You are all well

Osaka prt2

2008-01-17T21:44:00.001-08:00

Last night Flic and I went out to a restaurant for some of the fabeled Osaka Dining. We managed to eat about four dishes and drink sake beer and cocktails for about $25 each! Today we explored Osaka Aquarium. It was amazing. It so many displays of native and exotic fish, and the central atraction was the worlds only captive Whale Shark.

Asahi is everywhere! you can buy massive bottles for about 420 yen (about $4.50) at the restaurant we were at. You can also buy most sort of beers in vending machines on every corner for about 250 yen. --->
Aquariums are hard to take photos in. Sorry photography officionados ---->
Part of the amazing food hall in a department store in Umeda. ---->

We learnt very recently that Pair seats at Internet cafes are not cheaper than 2 separate seats. It doesnt really make sense, but its a reality so potential japan travelers beware! haha hope you are all well

So we are here!

2008-01-17T03:26:00.001-08:00

We are here! We arrived in Osaka on tuesday. Yesterday we explored the busy Dotombore shopping district, with all of the flashing lights and Giant crabs you would expect from a japanese metropolis. We had Okonomiyaki, which was delicious, but they must have thought they would skip the awkward miming ritual to teach us how to cook it ourselves and just made it for us in the kitchen. We were a little disapointed by that, but it did taste amazing (we have been eating various japanese meals for the last 2 days but this has been the best easily)

Today we have been exploring the more traditional parts of Osaka. We went to Osaka castle today. It is a massive castle in the middle of the city Motes, gardens and shrines. It was a very nice change of pace to the metropolis that we had explored yesterday. We also went to the osaka center for peace. Osaka was heavily damaged during world war two, the peace musium is very interesting and enlightening for an aussie like me.

Alex Makes okonomiyaki!!!!!!-Sunset at Osaka-

the Central shrine at Osaka Castle

From the wall of osaka castle

An old farm house at an open air museum

Japan is like everything you expect, but wrapped around you like glad wrap. It really is nothing short of the stories you hear, crazy tv, lots of pushbikes, super vending machines. I am really looking forward to the rest of the year!