Hotel Awina Osaka

... lipunmyyjien kanssa ja olisin ostanut liput vaikka maailman ympäri! Titityy!

Seuraava ajatus oli, että mennään Kiotoon ja jatketaan siitä Ujiin maistelemaan hiukan aamuteetä, mutta toisin kävi. Yleensä näillä Japan Rail passeilla ei pääse tuohon kaikista nopeimpaan N700 junaan, mutta nyt jostain syystä sellainen kuitenkin laiturille lipui?! Tästä innostuneena päätettiin, että nyt kun kerran kunnon vauhtiin päästään, niin jatketaan kyllä taatusti pidemmälle ...

... noin 10 minuuttia, eikä siinä ehtinyt kuin lyödä ahterinsa penkkiin ja avata teejuoman, niin oltiinkin jo perillä! Shin-Koben asemalta lähdettiin kävelemään (tietysti taas) kohti Kobe Lumierea ja löydettiinkin paikka parin kilometrin talsimisen jälkeen.

Ja kannatti kyllä kävellä, koska tosi komea oli tämä Lumiere ja aivan mielettömästi oli tullut ihmisiä sitä katsomaan. Valoista oli tehty ikään kuin kirkon seinät ja massiivista kirkkomusiikkia raikui ...

... was more like a library not a museum .....very few displays, just alot of Japanese comic books.

Stopped at another Starbucks. Not sure how Jordan can drink so many Frappucinnos in one day.

Caught the bullet train back to Tokyo. Saw Mount Fuji .... unfortunately no picture as I was to far away from the window.

Got back into Tokyo at 5 pm and went straight to the hotel. Took the subway to an area called Shibuya ... the ...

OUR TIME IN JAPAN.....PART II BY CHRISTIE GEORGE ! Ah yes, where was I? Oh that's right, we were just moseying our way through the streets of Kyoto and back to the train station, after a very interesting night of sleep at Mt. Fujiyama. We zigzagged our way around the train station that morning, trying to formulate plans as to what to do for the day, and for the next few days. We spent well over an hour Japlanning, consulting train schedules, and still trying to get our act ...

... segreg*ted). There *re sever*l levels, *ll the w*y up to ones offering m*ss*ges *nd other services. My time w*s spent *t the simple Shimizuyu b*th with * minim*l entr*nce fee of 400 yen (~$4.50). Stool b*thing *re*s lined * couple w*lls, *nd sever*l pool types lined the other w*lls, plus there w*s * wet *nd * dry s*un* with TV.

There w*s * hot b*th, * cold b*th, *nd * sort* j*cuzzi. But the most interesting - *nd surprising - w*s the "Pulse B*th." This little one ...

... Ipod Touch before we left. Handy words and such. I (Tez) studied Japanese as an extra night school course in my last year at uni (yes, yes, nerd, nerd... i took extra classes to keep myself occupied enough). However, this phrase didn't enter my vocab until i saw it on the 'essential safety list' whilst doing the iPod Japanese language lesson on the plane: Sumimasen ga, sono dolaggu watashino dewa alimasen. Arigato. This ...

... the public toilets, slippers John calls them. No wonder the Japanese are so thin - they walk everywhere, there are lots of stairs all of the the city and you have to hover to use the bathroom. Another thing is all the bowing. I could really get used to this! Everyone bows when you come and go. In the areas where English was not spoken we got by on our little Japanese and bows. We're off to China tomorrow morning. Good night!

... and very Japanese. After leaving Spaworld, we tried some Osakan local specialities which are various meats and vegetables fried in breadcrumbs then dipped in a soy based sauce, not very healthy but very tasty especially with a cold beer - which we managed to find at one place for 190 yen - the cheapest so far in Japan - much better than the 800 or 900 odd we had paid at some places in Tokyo. The next day we planned to head ...

... the deserted waterfront, in the strong icy breeze, to Osaka's Maritime Museum. It was very shocking to experience such an absence of people in Japan and for once when we arrived at the museum the staff seemed shocked to see people! Beginning in the main building on the "mainland" we descended on a glass lift to the basement level, where we were greeted by a blue arch tunnel stretching to a set of escalators. Through the tunnel we walked, under the water of Osaka's harbour ...

... and 5pm quickly approaching, had to call off the visit to Nijo-jo. It is good that we had all-day passes lest we would have spent a fortune going back and forth on the incorrect routes all day. The system had defeated us and the historic sites were all closing, but the night was young. We walked the busy downtown shopping streets near Sanjo station which were beginning to turn on their neons and growing crowded with teens off from school. These streets ...