Before I got on the plane to Tokyo on September 20, I was not quite prepared for the journey. However, the air-ticket has been bought, I still had to get on the plane.
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That was quite an adventure in 18 days. I didn't plan the journey well enough, and there were always something unexpected happened. I needed to amend or re-write my itinerary every day. Fortunately, most of tourist sites in Japan are closed after 6pm, so I normally returned to inns early in the evening and have enough time and energy to plan for the journey for the following day. I could also enjoy TV boardcasting and news reports in hotels.
I have watched 2 episodes of TV drama "Shinsengumi (新選組)". Shinsengumi seems to be very popular in Japan. I saw the light blue sign of Shinsengumi very frequently in the trip. I was interested in the characters of Toshizo Hijikata (土方歳三)- since I have been in Hakodate - and Sakamoto Ryouma(坂本龍馬) in the drama. Both Yamamoto Kouji and Eguchi Yosuke are more handsome than the characters who they act. However the real Toshizo in photos is gaunter and more sincere than Yamamoto, I think that Toshizo had experienced a lot of tumor. Sakamoto is very famous person, however Eguchi doesn't have much chance to show up in the episodes I watched.
The schedule of Shinsengumi will change to 5pm from this week. However, Kinki Kids' Show will be shifted to 11pm. Does it mean that the popularity of Kinki Kids in Japan dropped? Kimura Tatsuya is really very popular in Japan. The first poster I saw in train station after my arrival is his. Then I saw the poster many many times in Tokyo. 4 or 5 different ads on TV are hosted by him, much more than other pop stars.
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I arrived Japan right after the landing of Typhoon Number 20. Fallen trees and broken buildings were always seen. I can tell you I have seen a lot of red leaves...on the floor....
Everytime when I travelled from one city to the next destination, it rained. From Tokyo to Hokkaido, from Otaru to Hakodate, from Hakodate to Nikko, from Nikko to Kyoto. Time after time. However every time when I arrived at the train station of targeted city, the rain stopped or almost stopped except in Nikko. Because of the rain, I skipped the plan of dropping by Morioka and walking outside Sendai Station in order to arrive Nikko two hours ahead of schedule. That decision was proved to be right. The Typhoon Number 21 landed at that evening. The weather was very bad when I arrived in Nikko, but if I arrived two hours later after sunset, it would be more dangerous to search for hotel in hillside area.However, when I went out to visit the cities, the weather was always acceptable and sometimes sunny except the day I visited the Philosopher's Walk. On the next day I returned Hong Kong, Typhoon Number 22, which was the most powerful typhoon hitting Japan in this decade, attacked Japan. I was blessed throughout the trip considering the weather I have met.***
I had a packet of cup noodle as breakfast most of the days because it is very expensive to have breakfast in hotels or fast food shops. After graduation from university, I have seldom had cup noodle. It is quite an experience. It is quite easy to find places to have lunch and dinner at inexpensive price range in big cities. However, food is expensive in Nikko. Therefore I tried to have a set dinner in hotel one night because the price range of dining out is closed to that of dining inside the hotel (minshuku). The meal was hugh! There was too much food but I tried very hard to finish it since I have paid big buck for it. I felt bad to my stomach after dinner, so I decided to have food from convenience stores for the rest of the time in Nikko.
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Photography equipments I brought to Japan this time were similar to those to Jiuzhaigo, but I took a tripod this time for taking photos at night. I forgot the tripod on the train when I was just arrived in Japan. Thanks for the help from the staff in the Minami-senjuku Station, the tripod was found, but I had to go to Yokohama on the next day to pick it up!
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This kind of surprise was all over my trip. The last surprise in the trip happened on the last night in Japan...
Since that was the last night in Japan, I didn't need to reserve energy for the next day, I went out to Gion area to have fun until late at night although my ankle was hurted when I was in Nikko. There were a lot of students with their teachers in Gion area. Elementary students following their teachers, high school and junior high students were everywhere. I saw many students having field trips throughout my journery. I have learned to follow students where ever I go. They most of time were going to the same places I were looking for.
It has been very late at night. The old woman at the front desk in hotel doesn't know english. After I paid the rent of hotel room, she refused to get me the key of the room. Altough I heard someone saying "hori...hori..." in the dining room, I didn't aware of any connection between their dialog and me.
The master came back to hotel, she put a box and an english message in front of me. I thought that they put the reason of keeping my room's key on paper since they couldn't speak english. "How is everything going? I hope you are enjoying your travel here..."
"Arr...", I thought. "Thank you, but please go to the point."
I was tired and impatient, so I said to the master, "So, what's wrong. Why can't I have the key?" No answer.
I went back to the message again. It looked like a letter, the sender was... my friend I made on internet not long ago! Oh, My God! There were boxes of chocolate sent by a new friend on internet! I could never think of this kind of thing would happen before it really happened. It is a very sweet thing for a friend have done to me. Let me to say thank you here to my friend one more time.
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This is only an introduction, but it is getting very long. Three more words. "To be continued..."
There is a small private museum in Otaru. It is actually an extension of a store at the next door. You can find a lot of things owned by people living in Otaru in the past. The entry to this museum is free.
This iron does not utilize electricity. There is a window at the buttock of the iron. People put burning coal or wood through the window into the iron. The long nose at the head allows air to flow in and out of the iron. I have seen an old woman at the corner of a street, spraying water from her mouth to wet clothes and using an iron similar to the one on the left hand side to iron clothes.
My family owned a set of printing tools very similar to the set on the right. My mother have already been being a teacher since I was a child. When examination came, my mother wrote questions on a paper with wax with a pen of needle. My father would fix the wax paper on the frame shown on the right, then put ink on the top of wax paper and used a brush to spread ink to paper laying below the wax paper. My sister and I sat one side to watch them. I like the smell of wax paper. I would search wax paper when my parent were busy and stole a piece. Sometimes I took the needle pen to write on wax paper or to do other naughty things. I don't know if my mother is still keeping her tools at home now.
In the past, I sometimes went to a rice store on the next block to order rice for my mother. Every time we ordered 20 to 50 pounds of rice. The shop keeping would put rice into a hugh bag and measured the weight of rice. Finally a man came to my home and put the big bag of rice into a large bucket in kitchen.
I was facing the canal. Factories or warehouses are sitting at my right and left. The Ocean is at my back. Some boats are having a shelter in the canal. It is a quiet town. It is not colorful comparing with the photo at the right, but for someone, it can be charming in its own way.
at 2004-09-13 10:36
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