Japan Trip 2009 - Day 8 - End of the Trip

The last day of this Japan trip. We got half day to spend in Shinjuku as our flight was at afternoon. Suggested from my friend that there are several shopping building which is good for girls. Of course not good for me. But it was a good experience to have a look to the fashion trend in Japan.

There are 3 buildings with the name 1010. I think it is a brand name of a group that runs retailing business. Anyway, we got to one of them quite early that it was not yet opened. We went to a small cafe to take in some caffeine. The coffee tasted so good, really good. And the environment gives you a very relaxing feeling.

 Finished coffee and some bread, we went to that 1010 building. That building is aimed for female. Products are in variety. After getting something for my girl, we took back our luggage from the hotel and headed to airport. We took NEX again to the airport and heading to Hong Kong. I believe we will visit Japan again, maybe later.

  

This trip is really relaxing and enjoyable. No wonder most of Hong Kong people loves to visit Japan. Some would visit several times a year. To me, it is really a good experience. We knew some different cultures, different things, different people and different feelings. This enrich us so much about the knowledge of the world. We really found that the world is so huge, and one more thing, we really love traveling. 

Japan Trip 2009 - Day 7 - Part 2

Returned to Shinjuku, we got about 6 hours to spend. Because we would have dinner with a friend who works in Japan for several years. When the time I called her, we got the good news from her that she was gonna get marry several days later. Wow, it really shocked me at the moment because we did not have any gifts for her. Still, we felt so happy to hear that news.

Actually, we planned to have a visit to the Fuji Television Head Office Building. We took a train to the area of Odaiba お台場. Where you can visit Fuji Television Building, and see the Rainbow Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. All those could be seen on Japanese TV drama series.

After getting down the train, we had to walk quite a while to reach the Fuji Television Building. The building is an interesting building when you look from the outside. There is a ball on top of it. And actually, it acts as a tower for visitors to admire the scenery of the Tokyo Bay. The building is actually a visiting site for all people. We bought the tickets and have a walking trip around the building. In there, you can see the studios, different scenes for some special drama series and shows. You can take photos at these scenes. If you a real big fans of some artists or drama series. You gotta be crazy at there. To us, not big fans, just like walking through a visiting site. 

 Left that building, we took a walk along the sea side of Odaiba. It was getting dark that time. The view is really nice. The Rainbow Bridge makes the view very rich. The bridge is riding over the Tokyo Bay. It gives out similar feel of that long bridge in Hong Kong but much more gentle. Also, we took a look at the Statue of Liberty. The scale is a lot smaller than that in Manhattan but still, very nice. Walking along the sea side is really a good experience. A really romantic feel but a bit cold at night.

 

After that, we walked to the mall side. We picked a gift for my friend there. Then we headed back to Shinjuku to meet my friend. We then went to a restaurant which is in upper floor of a building. We really had a good time there. Eating, chatting, enjoying the time. It was really great.

Japan Trip 2009 - Day 7 - Part 1

This day, our main destination is Ghibli Museum 三鷹の森ジブリ美術館. It was a place that we longed for visiting. Usually, people called it as Totoro Museum, as it is featuring Japanese Anime produced by Studio Ghibli. One of the most famous masterpiece is Totoro.We took JR train to the station Mitaka. Then walked across the little town to the museum. We gave up the Totoro bus, which is a small shuttle bus in yellow and decorated with different totoro's characters. The reason is that it was not far when reading the map. And also, we wanted to see around the town. Actually, the town is nice, small, even the houses are small. It is a nice place. But, we lost our way. And lucky we managed to find the museum after half an hour.At the door of the museum, there were so many people queuing up. After a while, we managed to exchange our tickets and got into the museum. And wow!!! The museum is huge. The first exhibition hall is wow!!! You can not miss it. It demonstrates the concept of cartoon. Animation is a series of pictures and lights. So cool!!Every single exhibition hall was with special theme. Of course, themes were from those cartoons produced by Studio Ghibli. If you are a big fan of Studio Ghibli, you would visit all the halls one by one. There was a restaurant but was fully booked. Every place was decorated with different cartoon characters.

There was a 1:1 robot that you should have seen in the cartoon Laputa. It was a photo shooting place. What a nice statue!!! There was a room for small kids to play with the huge Cat Bus. There was a class of kindergarten kids visiting on that day. They are so cute, energetic but not naughty.

Hanged around for while and bought some souvenirs, we got back to Shinjuku and visit another place.

Japan Trip 2009 - Day 6 - Part 3

It was 4:00 pm, we were on the platform and waiting for the bullet train to Tokyo. It took us more than 3 hours to this big city. At Tokyo station, we seek the way to JR train station as we were finding the way to Shinjuku 新宿. Inside the station, we were quite confused when seeing the complicated network diagram. At that time, there came a pretty girl who was dressed in JR uniform. I believed that she was a JR customer service staff. I think our faces were really puzzled at that time, so that girl came across us and offering help.Actually, we were finding way to buy ticket to Shinjuku. And that girl listened to my request patiently. Then she asked me whether we still got the bullet ticket on hands. I said it was returned when we came out the gate. We did not realize that she was mentioning the JR East pass. At last, I presented that pass to her, she explained to us that we did not need to buy tickets as JR East pass could be valid for us to Shinjuku. Oh, right, I did not realized that. The pass was still valid on that whole day. Thank that girl. She is really helpful and friendly. We managed to get on JR train to Shinjuku.
Shinjuku station is a huge station. We found our way to the hotel and it took us more than half hour. We checked in the room and hang around in Shinjuku. That area is a red light area. Lucky that people there would not disturb tourists. The area was packed with people, and Hong Kong people as well. It was not difficult to hear someone speaking cantonese around the area. I don't like that area. The feeling is not that good. I prefer rural area of Japan. Maybe Shinjuku is too complicated for me.
We were a bit hungry at that time. We walked to the other end of the huge station. On the street, there was a noodle shop. It was a outdoor shop. Something like the noodle cart in those drama or cartoon series. We wanted to take photo before approaching the shop. At that time the shopkeeper shouted to us to stop shooting, if we were not gonna eat there. Anyway, we were planning to try such kind of shop, so approached the table and sat down. Ordered 2 bowls of noodle. Really taste good, and not expensive. We then took several photos and left.
Hanging around for quite a while, we headed back to hotel to take some rest. And ready for our visit to Totoro's home on the other day.

Japan Trip 2009 - Day 6 - Part 2

Backed to Hachinohe station, we headed to a seafood market, 八食市場, for our lunch.
There is a circular bus route from the station to the market. The market is a famous place for seafood. Actually, it is a huge building. Similar to the size of a department store in Hong Kong. It got 2 to 3 floors high. There is a huge parking area that could park hundreds of cars. The whole ground floor is the seafood market. All the food there are fresh and with reasonable price. You can taste any shashimi there. And the most important event there is to enjoy BBQ seafood.
There is a shop 七厘村, which is for visitors to BBQ their bought seafood and eat there. It is a self-service shop. You can shop around the market first. Then bring your food there, rent a stove and charcoal, with some basic stuff, like chopsticks, wired frame for grilling fish, and dishes.
We walked around the market first and decided what we wanna try. Shop keepers and staff there are friendly. We saw a master preparing a dish of shashimi. He is very skillful. Fishes could be sliced into thin pieces like paper. Amazing.
There are some shops selling fruits and vegetables. Thus, we think that the market is not only for seafood only. It is a normal market for local people and restaurants. Just a bit far away from the town. Thus, people could take bus or drive there. There are also different restaurants, of course with higher class. Visitors can have nicer meals there if they can afford.

To us, we bought a package from a seafood store, that is suitable for BBQ. Then we brought the package into the BBQ shop 七厘村. Rented all the necessary things and started our lunch there. That is a pretty good experience. No one would disturb you. You can make your seafood cooked and finish it all peacefully.That meal was so good as those seafood were so fresh. We then cleaned up the table and put all the shells and fish bones into the specific recycle bins. Returned the stove, then we left. We walked around different areas of that huge market. There are some shops for souvenirs, with some snacks and fruits. We then went back to Hachinohe. And waited for the train to Tokyo.

Japan Trip 2009 - Day 6 - Part 1

As usual, we woke up early in the morning. After breakfast, we went to the station Hachinohe and took JR train to Same Station 鮫駅. There, our destination is a temple on a hill side that is facing the ocean.Same Station 鮫駅 is an old station. The town there is pretty small. Even the station is also small. And the trains running that line are old, but pretty. This town gave us the plain and simplicity feeling of Japanese. There are not much people on the street. If there were people on the street, most probably are elder people. The tranquility there really makes you comfortable. This is not a place for fun, but it is worth to visit there.

Getting out of the small station. We had to walk along the sea side for around 20-30 minutes to the temple. While walking across the town, we walked in a relaxing mood. Hanging around some shops. We went into a cake shop that sells some cake snack. Quite a traditional snack in Japan. The keeper is an old lady. Very friendly. We bought 2 pieces to try. Woo, awesome. I tried to take photo with the kind lady but she refused politely. She is a traditional Japanese old lady, very kind and gentle and with smile all the time.

In the town, there could see those cross junctions of train rails and pavements that you would usually seen and heard inside some cartoons. (e.g. my favorite one 秒速5厘米) . When the alert sound triggered and the fence lowering down, it gave us the feeling so familiar. We stopped at the junction and waited for the train to pass. It is very impressive to us, especially the scene and the sound that we could really experience.
There are also some old shops. Some are handling bamboos, some are repairing ships. Actually, that town should be a fishing port previously. The reason is that we could see many fishing boat there. And along the streets, some shops would put a statue of fish, or other kinds of sea animals outside the shop. That's just what we figure out, but without too much evidence to support. Anyway, we walked to the end of the road along the sea side and reached the temple 蕪嶋神社.

That day was sunny, and not a specific season for worshiping. Thus, not much people there. We walked up the staircases to the temple at the top of the hill directly. Actually, the temple was not very interesting to me. But the scene around the temple is magnificent. An almost 270 degree sea view. Really cool. You can smell the ocean from the onshore wind. You can feel that it is a good place for building a temple.

We did not stay long around the temple. We walked around the town again and headed back to Hachinohe. Lunch was waiting for us...

Japan Trip 2009 - Day 5

Day 5 was the main course of this Japan trip, the trip for red leaves.
We took the first bus from the Hachinohe train station to the Lake Towada 十和田湖, where we would do hiking along the river 奥入瀬渓流 to the lake side. It is one of the most favorite places to admire the natural red leaves in Japan.
That day was a sunny day and was not hot as it was autumn. There was a path that lead people to the lake side along the river. Along this path, there are different bus stops for people to take on or off in order to start or leave their hiking path. We planned to start the hiking at the first bus stop 石ヶ戸, but was afraid could not finish the whole path on time in order to get the boat and ride across the lake and get the last bus back to Hachinohe. Thus we got down the bus at the second bus stop 馬門岩 of the hiking path.And actually, we did not have enough time to finish the path as we took so much photos on the way to the lake. If anyone want to put this visit as a one day trip, you better get down the bus at the third bus stop instead of the second one. If you planned to stay a night along the lake side, you can start the hiking at the first bus stop.
The river 奥入瀬渓流 is a really gorgeous place. And at that season, though not all leaves were red, but still, I am sure you would press your camera shutter for more than 400 times while walking.We saw a painter, set up his canvas and made his work next to the river. The scene there is very famous. Different seasons would give out different colors, which gives out different feels. You would absolutely shocked when you see it. That was stunning. We, of course, very excited. And thank God that the day was so nice and good for enjoying the scene. Remember the previous day was a rainy day? We were so lucky.

There are several famous visiting site for people to take photos. One of them is called 阿修羅の流. Really nice.It was the beginning of autumn, red leaves are not much. But the area there was so colorful. You could see green, yellow, orange, and red leaves everywhere. I would say that it is a must go place when you are visiting the North East of Japan.But, remember that in winter, the river and hiking path would not be opened as it would be very dangerous because there would be snow and ice everywhere.
At the very beginning, we walked happily and took photos at every steps. However, at half of the path, we found that we were running out of time for the boat. So, we speeded up our steps and also the photo speed. And luckily, we made it. Could get on the boat. The boat took us about an hour to the other side of the lake. On the ride, we could see the whole mountain was covered with orange color. Still, with some green color. Really nice. We took a good rest in the boat as we were exhausted due to the hurrying walk. A very interesting experience and worth to have it.

We planned to take a walked after taking off the boat, but was no time. We had to take the last bus back to Hachinohe. We found that the pier area got so many trees with red leaves, thus, we took some photos and hurry to buy bus tickets.

When back to Hachinohe, it was dark. We found a little restaurant for dinner. The owner was a very nice lady. She knew we were tourists from Hong Kong. She got us a little gift. It was an apple. She said apple is the representative of Aomori. Though she and other staff there could not say English well, we could not say Japanese well neither, they were so friendly and suggested what we could eat. It was a good dinner with the warmth that they gave. A really worthy experience for us. I was thinking such kind of visiting is what we want. Feel people, feel the place and feel the scene.