Yumotokan Nagoya

... here they call it a ropeway) from Togendai to Souzan with a brief stop at Owakudani to see the volcanic sulphuric steam. Again, this was supposedly a fantastic vantage point to see Mt. Fuji - but not today.

On reaching Sounzan we took a cable car down to Gora, from which we jumped on a local train heading back to Hakone-Yumoto. From there another hour spent on a different train heading back to Tokyo ...

... about the "black eggs". Supposedly if you eat a black egg which had been cooked in the sulfur springs you will have 7 years added to your life span. So Jeremy and I said that sounded great. The eggs are put into little baskets and dropped into the sulfur springs to boil. Talk about stink - the springs were awful, and the eggs made it worse. Anyway, when they come out the shells are totally black ...

... swoista gwarancja wierności podwładnych Szoguna. Stary checkpoint pokazuje jak przeprowadzana była kontrola i co robiono z osobami nielegalnie przekraczającymi granice.

Na drugą część doliny popłynęliśmy trochę kiczowatym „pirackim" statkiem. Z jeziora Ashi można podziwiać widok otaczających gór i powoli czuć mało przyjemną woń Owaku-dani czyli „doliny wielkiego wrzenia ...

... I admired the most. In the book I'm reading now, the author Gregory David Roberts makes a comment about the elaborate ways different cultures decorate their entryways. I never really payed much attention to how things 'feel' different, when you walk into the different worlds we create in our homes, or in our scared places, until I came to Japan. First, I realized my house needed some personality before it could feel like a place I wanted to come 'home' to. Second, was when I went to ...

... onsen as inconspicuously as possible. Very unfortunately, I somehow managed to become lost inside the changing room, attracting lots of attention whilst I desperately tried to locate the exit. I eventually asked a nearby family but they didn’t understand me and directed me to the toilet instead. After a while they finally realised what I was asking, and showed me the exit, but not before they kindly tied my Kimono up properly for me :) We were feeling pretty exhausted ...

... like the one they have in Hong Kong that takes you to the Peak) and then a quick interchange for the suspended rope way cable car ride. It was on the ropeway car ride that one can have a spectacular view of Mt.Fuji …… that is assuming the weather conditions are ...

... It was delicious! After dinner my host mom, Tomomi (my host sister) and I went to Apita mall where I found a hello kitty watch to buy :p and another elephant cel phone charm (this one is a cute little wooden elephant). Oh and I also got a better dictionary it was only $10! I have yet to get the electronic one...I figure there's no rush for that one, they are expensive no matter what. There ...

... in mind, we've got quite a bit left on our platter to do here to prepare. I'm not looking forward to moving, but it's absolutely non-sensical to pay rent for a place we won't be living in for some four to six months. That, plus I'm quite eager to get out of the current apartment. The location's great and all, but I'm tired of dealing with the lack of insulation, the excess of tatami rooms and the low doorways that I constantly smack my head on. Change is always good ...

... for two hours at dawn and then everyone goes away so we can sleep again. If it's garbage day, forget about it, because the singing garbage trucks make an appearance bright and early. It actually gets so bad that it all becomes very histerically funny. We just lie in total disbelief of all the noise that is coming from every direction so early in the morning. Recently Kyle and I discovered our favourite cartoon characters - mine is Doraemon and Kyle's is Anpanman. The story of ...

... same, the comparative chilliness to Oklahoma was the least on my mind, as I was more fascinated with the stretch of raised highway over the top of the road all the way into town. Despite it being night, I could see the neat sameness of concrete sprawl and marvelled at the time at the cleanliness of it all. The first meal upon arrival was decidedly unexotic though: tacos at a place around the corner from my new apartment! I had a few days of collect-your ...