Hakone

On the 18th, Sakura and I went on a two-day trip to Hakone, a famous sight-seeing area located about an hour and a half away from Tokyo by train. Hakone is mostly famous for being a hot spot for onsen (hot springs - pun probably intended), but there's a lot more to do then sit in extremely hot slightly sulfurous water all day.










The first picture is just the first picture taken when we got off the train. Hakone is located in and around mountains, so if you look in any direction you're probably going to see one. It was a nice change of scenery. The second picture was taken from the "Hakone Ropeway," a pretty neat form of transportation. The next picture is the Ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) where we stayed. It was quite nice though not dissimilar from the previous Ryokan I stayed at last year. You are supposed to be able to see Mt. Fuji from Lake Ashinoko, but as you can see in the last picture it was a bit too cloudy on the second day of our visit.

Oarai

Here's the last set of pictures from Mito. This place by the sea is called Oarai (the great wash..?). I didn't actually go on the beach or into the aquarium, but it was nice to be there anyway. This beach is a lot cleaner than most of the beaches in Japan, which seem to be typically littered with trash. Some of the pictures are taken from a big tower where I ate ice cream.

Mito

The other day we went up to Mito, the capital city of Ibaraki prefecture. Mito is pretty famous because it's where one line of the Tokugawa family lived during the Edo period (the Tokugawa family being the ruling family of Japan for over two centuries). It's also where a lot of important stuff happened leading up to the overthrow of that family and the modernization of Japan. These first set of pictures were taken at a sort of "summer cottage" for Tokugawa Nariaki, called Koubuntei.

Tokyo Disneyland

Monday was Disneyland!! I didn't take many pictures, but Sakura has a couple that I will try to get and post later. I have never been to Disneyland in the U.S. before so it was pretty cool for me. Some of the rides I had done before, like Splash Mountain, but I find Disneyland to be much better than Disney World, because everythign is located in the same park and not spread out across ridiculous distances.

The park was really fun, and once again it was ridiculously hot, though it got better towards the evening. We rode just about every major ride in the park, despite some incredible waiting times. Every ride had huge lines, with waiting periods up to 100 minutes. I'd say the only thing I didn't enjoy so much was the cuisine, because everything was just typical American hotdogs and burgers and such. There was curry-flavored popcorn but I didn't try it. Anyway, sorry about the lack of pictures...I guess I was just having too much fun to bother with the camera. :)

Hanabi (Fireworks)

On August 2 me and Sakura went to a big fireworks display in southern Chiba. It was really hot and crowded, but I had a good time. All of the pictures I took turned out horribly, but I will post a couple here just to give you an idea of what it was like.

Ponyo Ponyo

So before I went to Chiba I saw "Ponyo on the Cliff" with Sakura and her parents. Despite loving Miyazaki movies, I was a little worried going into this one because it's all in Japanese and even though I can get along alright in most everyday situations, I usually fail miserably at understanding Japanese movies, TV, and music especially. However, I was pleasantly surpised that I understood at least 85% of the movie's dialog (probably because it is geared towards young kids), and for perhaps the first time in my life I found myself understanding the language passively. I caught myself several times after a scene of dialog had passed realizing that I just understood everything without even trying...it was a nice feeling.

The movie itself was very cute, and pretty much what I was expecting. I wouldn't put it up there with Mononoke or Spirited Away, but it's a nice little kids' movie in its own right. I suppose it will come out next year in the U.S., but I don't think I will try to see it in theaters.

Sorry for the Delay

I haven't been able to update my blog for the last week or so, because I cannot seem to get my computer online in Chiba, which is where I was staying. Right now I am back in good ole Ibaraki, and it's very relaxing compared to city life (if you can even call Chiba the city).

I'm gonna make separate posts in chronological order as if I had been updating my blog all along, so bear with me. Unfortunately I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately, but I will post what I have for now.

Here's a picture of what it looks like here in Ibaraki, outside of the apartment complex where Sakura's parents live. It seems like a nice place, but I haven't really spent much time outside...mostly because it's quite hot and humid. I think I will be going to see Ponyo (the newest Miyazaki film) today with Sakura and her family, so I will try to write an update about that later. I'm not sure how much of the story I will be able to understand, though... : /

Back in Japan

Greetings all,

I've just spent my first night back in Japan. It's been more than a year since I've been back but it doesn't really feel like it. Right now I am staying at Sakura's house in Ibaraki, which is about an hour north of Tokyo. I haven't taken any pictures yet, so that will have to wait, but...I figured I would just get the ball rolling again.