Hotel Ikoi Tenri

... 10 minuutin päähän Kiotoon. Ja näin tehtiin.

Kiidettiin siis hirmu kyytiä Nagoyaan asti, jossa hypättiin ulos ja alettiin miettimään, että mitäs nyt sitten? Aseman näytöllä luki, että juuri on lähdössä juna Takaymaan, joten ei kun äkkiä ovesta sisään ja matkaan. Junan hurjasta diesel-murinasta jo kuuli, että nyt ollaankin sitten lähdössä hiukan erilaisille reiteille. Sen verran ymmärrettiin Japanilaista kuulutusta, että matka-aika Takaymaan on yli 3 tuntia ...

... mitään ihmeempiä suunnitelmia, niin tehtiin pikapäätös suunnata Kobeen katsomaan Lumiere valoteosta, jota on paljon mainostettu joka puolella Japania. Kobe Lumiere on muistomerkki vuoden 1995 maanjäristyksen uhreille ja se järjestetään aina joulukuussa. Vuoden 1995 maanjäristyksen uhreja oli kaiken kaikkiaan melkein 6500 ja aineelliset vahingot aivan järjettömiä, että mistään pikkujutusta ei ollut kysymys.

Matka luotijunalla Osakasta Kobeen kesti ...

... 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 ...

... coffee she had just bought. There is still a small hole in my right Ugg boot that does not do the fall justice." -As narrated by my good friend, Bridget Bomhack. I still laugh every time I hear that story, and I hope you enjoyed it too. Eben and I had thought that the train pulling into the station just after Bridget disappeared was ours, so Eben urged me to get Bridget back to the platform. So I sent her that message, having no idea the hilariously catastrophic ...

... gravel, very neatly raked into simple designs. The position of the temple, being high up provides great views of Kyoto which is set on a plain within a ring of mountains. We stop for lunch at an Okonomiyaki restaurant. Okonomiyaki is the nearest Japanese equivalent of pizza. You sit at a teppanyaki hotplate and pork, fish, shellfish and vegetables are mixed into a batter, put on to the teppan to cook one side and then the other. In honour of Carolyn's ...

... she needed about films, showing times and locations from her mobile phone. The phone network here is so advanced, and phones so plentiful that people don't even have to send SMS's to each other any more, they can send e-mails directly to each others phones and bypass the message limit on 2G phone. Using an NTT Do Co Mo phone, it would even tell Michi her location and give her a detailed map showing how to get to the cinema. We went to watch 'Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of ...

... left. The day after was a bit of a lazy recovery day, we changed hotels as the one we had stayed in for the previous 2 days was booked up for the Sunday night. I did a bit of washing at the local laundry which was a hell of a challenge as I hadn't been to a laundry for 10+ years, and especially not a Japanese one. There was a collection of Magna comics in there too that I had a look at while I was waiting and I ...

... through the great hallways connecting them. We stayed for the evening service, which includes a series of prayers set to song and hand gestures, as well as five instruments played at the front of the room. The main instrument is played by the leader of all of Tenrikyo, the highest column holding up the faith. After the service we had a fantastic meal at Mariko's aunt's home - American style chili! It was really delicious and ...

... I will be showing Finnish comedy shows to Japanese students and then (this is a fancy name my teacher gave to the project) I`ll do a "cross-cultural study on humour." Anyways, it`s a lot of work doing all the subtitles in English myself, and the Finnish in Kummeli and Studio Julmahuvi isn`t exactly the easiest to translate. But it`s all coming along (I think... I hope!) On Friday I went to Osaka to meet up with Mariko and her Swedish boyfriend Matias ...

... 5 years prior in Southern California, and therefore took it upon himself to greet us at every opportunity. He happily shared his advice on where we should go, the best ways to get there, and usually offered us step by step directions. Whenever Dad would go outside for a cigarette (he never smoked in the hotel rooms), the doorman would chat with him, keeping him entertained. What we couldn't get over, was his accent. I've been to ...