Nostalgic for Japan (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

Back in february I was a bit homesick for Japan, if one can be "homesick" for a country that one hasn't spent more than three weeks in. Since then I'd gotten over it, mostly just being excited about ideas for a next trip should the day ever come.

However, this week I'm filled with the desire "to be there" again. The guys from Shiranai are getting ready for their August trip and their enthousiasm is infectuous :) I helped my good friend Kaijuu with the editing process of the travel guide, making sure that there weren't any bugs left in there.

When i came to the page that describes our apartment building in Osaka the homesickness struck ^_^; Upon reading the subway station names that line the way home, I could hear those names resounding in my head again. Shin-Osaka, Hommachi, the Chuo-line and of course Tanimachi 4-Chome. *sigh*

I hope all of you will have a great time in Japan. Come back safely! I'll make a small shopping list of crap that you'll need to pick up for me :)

Posted in: japan , nostalgia , trip , yearning

I'm home ^_^ (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

Pictures for day 14

*yawn* *stretch*

Well, I'm back home. The jet lag's doing me in though, so I've taken two additional days off from work.

Posted in: home again , japan , trip

My trip to Japan: a short retrospective (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

Well... My trip's coming to an end... Only one more day and then we'll depart for the Netherlands again. It's been an awesome (once in a lifetime) experience! I'm very grateful to everyone who's made this possible, but most of all to Marli-chan who both encouraged and forced me to go :)

The odd thing is that the past twelve days seem so much longer! It really seems like I've been here for a month already. It seems so long ago that I got lost on Umeda station :) Ah well...

I thought I'd make a few short lists, that sum up how I feel about my trip.

I will miss about Japan:
* TV. I love their wacky game shows and their drama series.
* Tatami rooms.
* Sleeping on futons.
* The ever-present vending machines. The wide range of drinks' flavours.
* The ever-present lavatories.
* The polite people.
* Public transport. Punctual and 99.9% reliable.
* Decent, quick meals for low prices on every street corner.
* 100 yen shops. Everything from food to household items, for 60 eurocents a piece.

I would miss about Europe, if moving to Japan:
* Bread. I want dark bread, with seeds and fullgrain stuff in it.
* Veg and fruits. I don't want a puny salad, I want a plate of veg!
* Decent toilet paper.
* Curvaceous women.

EDIT:
Of course, it's obvious that I'd miss my family and friends horribly. I thought that'd go without saying...

Posted in: japan , retrospective , trip

Visiting a traditional inn (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

Pictures for the eight day of my trip.

Last Wednesday I did something that was high on my "to do" list: visit a ryokan, a traditional inn. After bugging the whole group, I managed to find someone who was willing to take the trip with me: Nick :) So on the morning of the 2nd, Nick and I took the Shinkansen to Hiroshima.

In Hiroshima we made the "compulsory" visit to the A-Bomb dome and the Peace Park. I hadn't been looking forward to it, but in the end was very happy that we took this little sidetrack. Hiroshima seems like a nice city and the architecture around the park reminds me of Helsinki :)

An hour long tram ride later we arrived at the ferry that would take us to Miyajima. The island itself was bustling with people who were there to open the new year. Miyajima you see, is an island with a multitude of temples. The island isn't one of the most important temples, but it sure is popular :) The fact that it's has lovely surroundings and those damn cute deers also helps...

By the by: let me just say that I have now also discovered the attraction that lies in women dressed in a kimono. There's just something about the full-blown kimono getup that gets to you. The beautiful cloth, the pleats in the garment that are just right, delicate makeup and a hairdo that's been detailed with a flower or a few jewels. Kirai! Kirei!

Ryokan Iwaso was awesome. -Very- beautiful and luxurious and well worth the Y24k we paid apiece. The rooms were uber-comfortable and decked out in tatami. We had a view of the forest, complete with a loud-ass cat yowling away through the night ^_^; Dinner was very special, no less than we could have expected. Unfortunately, Nick and I discovered that we only liked about 50% of the food (which was also true for breakfast). Well... We may love Japan, but we'll never be ones for traditional Japanese food :) I'll stick to the more modern stuff for now...

Finally, the hot spring? I wish we had something like that in the Netherlands. That's all I can say :)

Posted in: japan , miyajima , ryokan , trip

Updates delayed (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

Sorry guys... I'm feeling awful (nauseous) and as of *beep* now, I'll only get a chance for about five hours sleep before I need to get up again. I'll be able to tell you more about the trip by tomorrow evening. Just not now :[

Posted in: delays , japan , trip , updates

Going to Tokyo (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

Photos for day 3.

According to my planning, today would be my first day in Tokyo, starting off with a quick hunt for a watch made by Haruo Suekichi and finishing in Akihabara. I'd also meet up with Durf during the evening.

However, I decided to change all of my plans. I hitched a shinkansen ride to Tokyo at 11:20, arriving around noon. I hung around Tokyo's central station a little, to get my bearings, a Suica card and some more cash money. A leisurely metro ride to Yoyogi Uehara finally put me near the Yoyogi Tom's Studio store. "Near" being the proper word, since I managed to misread the map I had drawn myself. Joy! This led to me stomping around the wrong block of houses for about half an hour.

I stayed at the store for about an hour and then left for the hotel. I arrived around five and was welcomed by a rather charming young lady ^_^ The hotel room is not very big, but it's comfortable and comes with a nice bath. Not bad, for 7400 Yen per night! For my dutch friends: thats about 90 euros for -two- nights.

Since I'm rather tired and still feeling a bit ill, I've asked Durf to cancel our date. I hope I haven't caused him too much trouble. :/

Posted in: japan , shinkansen , tokyo , trip

Higashi "too fscking big" Umeda (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

Argh! x_x

Higashi Umeda is one of the key stations in Osaka, combining a big JR station, with a bunch of metro lines. It's one of those stations that all of us will have to cross when going out on a little trip. Unfortunately it doesn't help on iot that the blood station is mixed and mashed together with a huge shopping mall! The building apparently spans about ten square kilometers! And I feel like I've covered almost 40% of it this evening.

I had to switch from the red line (Midosuji) to the purple line (Tanimachi), which would seem to be an easy enough task. I guess I took a wrong turn somewhere though, because it took me forty friggin' minutes to finally find the entrance to the purple station. Ugh!

It really doesn't help that the signs indicating the various lines are among hundred, nay thousands of other neon signs on the ceiling ^_^; Hopefully I'll have the hang of it by the end of this holiday :)

Posted in: higashi umeda , higashi umeda station , japan , lost , trip

We're here and it's great! (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

Photos for day 1.

Wow, what a trip!

The 24 of us left Schiphol airport on the evening of the 25th, after gathering around 1700. As can be imagined, maneuvring such a huge group through three major cities' airports can be a bit of a hassle, but luckily we didn't loose anyone ^_^;

Right now it's about a quarter to four in the morning, local time (19:45 in the Netherlands) and I can't really sleep. I thought I'd setup the Wifi basestation Robert brought along, to save some time in the morning. I've never setup any Linksys hardware, except for that crap Wifi card, so I'm hoping this'll be painless.


(Crap... Apparently I woke up Niels-sama with my annoying cough)

Anywho... This was my first trans-continental flight and I have to say I'm impressed by Japan Airlines flights. We flew aboard a 777 that was next to empty, so each of us got a row of three seats to himself. That way we could kind-of lie down to sleep a little.

I'd packed my backpack with all kinds of stuff, just to get through the sixteen hour trip, but honestly: I never touched any one of them. The in-flight entertainment offered by JAL was more than enough to keep me entertained. The offer a pick of twenty movies, so there's really something for everyone. I tuned into the 50' JPop channel while trying to sleep and was pleasantly surprised by The Drifters, with Ii yu da na, which is a song that I -really- love :D

BTW: I stopped Transformers about half way through. OMG, that's a crap movie ;_; ChildhoodMemoriesRaped++

Oh yeah... The stop over at Narita airport was pretty nice. We'd to wait a little for Niels to get all the railcards and other paper worked sorted, but after that it was clear sailing. Niels and I hit the showers to freshen up a little and it worked a treat :) After that, the flight to Osaka was a breeze.

We took the shuttle bus to Obenobashi station, so we could take the metro into Osaka. Luckily, the train makes a direct line to "our" station: Tanimachi 4choma. A few minutes walking from there took us to our home for the next two weeks: Weekly Mansion Otemae. The appartment isn't very large, with two bedrooms, a cramped living room and the tatami room, but it's damn well good enough for us! ^_^

Oh! Remember how I got serious stomach aches at Christmas, from overeating? Well, I'd been feeling "full" ever since, but our late-night curry dinner fixed a lot :D Even at "level 2", that stuff is quite spicy! ^_^;

Right... Now I'm off to hack that base station. I'll sort through my pictures tomorrow and start posting stuff later.

Posted in: japan , japan airlines , osaka , trip , weekly mansion otemae

Packed and ready to go (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

Well, I'm all set for the trip to Japan! Nervous, anxious and rearing to go! :D

I don't know how, or why, but my suitcase is already at the limit. It weighs in around 18 kilos, so anything I buy in Japan will have to be sent home through mail.

Wish me luck!

Posted in: japan , packed , suitcase , trip

Planning and more planning (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

With a bit of luck, this is what my trip's going to look like. There's still a few days that I can fill in, but I reckon I'll figure out what I'll do when I get there.

Now... I -really- must finish some homework for a group project at school. If I don't, then half of our presentation will fall apart :( Crappy thing is that I really don't feel like doing my homework. The trip to Japan is just -too- close! -_-;

EDIT:
I'm putting together a Google map with all of my destinations. You can find it here.

Posted in: japan , plan , trip

Planning my trip to Japan (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

A few days before my departure to Japan, the pieces to the puzzle start falling together. I've made a list of things that I really want to see, leaving a few days to spare.

Tokyo-area:
* Comiket 73
* The Ghibli museum
* The Miraikan museum of tech
* Namco Namja Town
* Visit my Arsian acquaintance Durf (assuming that he's in town)
* Some shopping in Akiba

Osaka-area:
* New Year's
* The Kojasan temples

Kumamoto-area, on Kyushu (southern island):
* The Kyushu Railway History museum
* The ryokan Chikurakutei

Wow! This is going to be awesome <3 It'll be especially exciting to visit Kyushu by myself, since I really don't speak any Japanese :D

Posted in: holiday , japan , planning , tourist , trip