Archived:ThingsWeDidInJapan

It was suggested that we record what we actually did:

• Sun 18th:
  • Arrive in Tokyo, early am.
  • Wander around Tokyo near the station, glimpsing Imperial Palace. See lots of shops that aren't open yet.
  • Breakfast in a 24hr noodle bar in Tokyo.
  • Collect JR passes and train to Odawara, onward to Hakone.
  • Various modes of transport around Hakone (Train, bus, Pirate Ship, ropeway (cable car), cable car (funicular), bus again).
  • Share an umbrella with an old lady who is amazed at John's stature and finds us the right bus stop.
  • Get to 'Fuji Hakone' ryokan in Moto-Hakone Sengokuhara (having discovered in time that there are two ryokan with the same name).
  • Eat horse mackerel and tempura everything at a restaurant around the corner.
• Mon 19th:
  • Breakfast at the ryokan with slightly underdone toast.
  • Take a series of trains to Osaka. On arrival, Phil goes to find Mickey and Emma; Ben, Dan, John, and Mike to find Mielparque.
  • Fail spectacularly to meet at noon, on account of (a) not getting to Osaka soon enough, and (b) confusion over which branch of the Plum chain to meet at. Meet eventually.
  • Lunch at a spanish cuisine sports bar.
  • Head to the castle, narrowly missing a Funky Monkey Babys concert. Wander round the castle, eating octopus balls and jaywalking like crazy.
  • Look at the centre of Osaka. Light shopping and a Ferris wheel ride.
  • Phil stays in the hotel and sleeps off jet lag. Everyone else goes around the corner to a sushi restaurant.
• Tue 20th:
  • Breakfast at Mielparque.
  • Day trip to Kyoto.
  • See awesome railway station.
  • Drink the waters of Kiyomizudera.
  • Temple fatigue.
  • Lunch in a trendy cafe in Kyoto.
    • More like a restaurant over a shop, and it was on the main temple approach road
• Eat ice-cream and cake in the awesome station again.
• Wed 21st:
  • Breakfast at Mielparque again.
  • Take a slightly odd (but JR powered and involving a boat) route to Osaka aquarium, and spend all morning there.
  • Lunch in Osaka station - our first taste of Okonomiyaki
  • Buy bentos for train
  • Train towards Fujiyama for most of the afternoon, and then a bus to K's House.
  • Both K's House and the bar around the corner turn out to be full of gaijin.
• Thu 22nd:
  • Train to Fujikyu Highlands almost in time for opening. Some consternation over dropping off bags.
  • Rather large lunch at Fujikyu. The Q in its name turns out to be appropriate & not much gets done in the afternoon.
  • Leave just in time for the train to Tokyo.
  • What did we do for dinner? Was that the restaurant with the buzzers?
    • Yes, must've been
• Fri 23rd:
  • Get up unsure of what to do. Decide to see kabuki.
  • Route march through the government building district to Tokyo Tower. Glimpse it as we rush past to the National Theatre.
  • See [1]. Lunch during the first interval. Dan had croquette sandwiches. Kabuki continues forever and ever.
  • Wander around Shinjuku in the evening. Take forever to find a fondue place for dinner
  • Dan hits the gay bars, namely Advocates, and then gets taken on to Dragon, which has gaijin barmen in undies.
  • Lmm goes to the cinema, sees the Eureka Seven film.
• Sat 24th:
  • Go to the anime fair. It turns out not to actually contain much.
  • Lmm sees the awesome pretty cure stage show. Everyone else discovers the maritime museum to be closed.
  • Science museum. Asimo walks a bit. Send messages with a working model of Internet.
  • Take in a disappointing anime in the museum's planetarium.
  • Pay museum prices for a buffet lunch, which we are determined to get our money's worth of.
  • Evening trip to Akihabara. Much consternation as we keep getting split up.
• Sun 25th:
  • Laundry in the morning
  • Wander around the temple in Asakusa. Lmm buys a suitcase.
  • Head out to the suburbs for Mike's cafe. It turns out to require advance tickets.
  • Eat okonomiyaki at a place that actually uses the hot plate
  • Harajuku. Walk around the park a bit, and the fancy shops. Park turns out to be largely devoid of cosplayers, but there are one or two.
  • Dan sees a costume show in the Evangelion shop.
  • Lmm and Mike head back to Akihabara. Mike insists Lmm direct him where to buy his porn. Lmm runs away as soon as possible, and finds a cafe.
  • Other people try to see Shinjuku Gyoen, but it is already closed, so we instead see everything from the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building tower.
  • In the evening we meet a girl from Chicago. She and Lmm arrange to go to the fish market.
• Mon 26th:
  • Lmm gets up ungodly early. The girl does not. Lmm watches some anime and goes back to sleep.
  • Some packing and the like in the morning. Decide we want to go to Osaka today, probably on the 15:30 or 16:30 shinkansen.
  • Turns out the drum museum around the corner is closed, but Emma buys shoes.
  • Wander round the market stalls in the temple district, eating ice-cream and sweet bread.
  • Breakfast in a street that turns out to be full of cafes.
  • Head back to Akihabara for lunch and a little last shopping. Decide to split up this time and everyone has a better time.
  • Fail to say goodbye properly to Emma.
  • MELON BREAD
  • Catch the train to Osaka as planned
  • Eat at a cafe in Osaka station. Everyone but Dan has carbonara. Exciting frozen drinks.
• Tue 27th:
  • Early plane to Yakushima
  • Discover no-one can drive
  • Discover no-one has the ryokan's address
  • Get bus passes, and bus, and eventually get to ryokan.
  • Go to Senpiro's waterfall. Some photography. Walk down the mountain talking loudly about twenty questions.
  • Onsen.
  • Exceedingly traditional japanese dinner at the ryokan.
• Wed 28th:
  • Traditional Japanese breakfast at the ryokan.
  • By bus to Shiragani Unsuikyo.
  • 5 hours of hiking
  • Bus back, booking jetfoil on the way. Also a little souvenir shopping just outside Miyanoura.
  • Dinner at the restaurant opposite the ryokan.
• Thur 29th:
  • Traditional Japanese breakfast
  • Bus to Miyanoura and catch the jetfoil. A little more souvenir shopping at the ferry terminal.
  • Lunch at the Steak & Hamburg in Kagoshima
  • Train it up to Fukuoka
  • Check into hotel, then visit canal city
  • Watch a dude with some impressive diabolo skillz
  • Dan nearly buys a watch.
  • Everyone else watches a japanese schoolgirl acquire chocolate.
  • Back to the hotel as the shops shut.
• Fri 30th:
  • Morning shinkansen
  • Gets us to Hiroshima at some point
  • Visit the memorial and museum
  • Late lunch in this underground place, with bartering and cocktails
  • Lmm runs off to catch the pretty cure all stars movie
  • Evening karaoke
  • Fail to find a mahjong club for 3
  • A little drinking at a bar. Ben orders much plum wine
• Sat 31st:
  • Himeji on the way, but only for an hour or so
  • Back to the ryokan
  • Dinner in that place on the 4th floor near the ryokan, (with the buzzers)
  • Back to Akihabara one last time
• Sun 1st:
  • All but Ben and Lmm fly home in the morning
  • Fertility festival in Kawasaki. It is full of american tourists, and we can't get any lollies
  • Early lunch at a traditional japanese noodle bar. We watch some baseball.
  • Watch the parade. Haha, penis.
  • Ben heads to book his ferry ticket
  • Lmm makes a brief ticket to Akihabara, locates (but does not enter, as it is not yet open) the infamous LittleBSD cafe, then goes to Shinjuku and watches the Strike Witches movie.