WWOOF - Miyagi

Tuesday -
We got up today about 7.30am and sorted through some firewood before breakfast. Luckily, Chieko is interested in cooking and likes diverse types of food so we get some variety unlike at the last wwoof host. Then Chieko's brother came over and we helped build a drying rack. I think I hindered rather than helped but Ed seemed to do ok.
In the afternoon we started to clear an overgrown field with scythes. I had a lot of fun wielding a scythe, Ed won't come near me after deeming me too dangerous and mental. I had fun though.
In the evening, Chieko's English friend Gavin and his family came over. Gavin has a Japanese wife and 3 kids, though I don't really understand what language they speak. I don't think they do either. They speak to them in both English and Japanese and switch between them randomly. We had a fun dinner drinking beer and talking about Japan and we offered to come and build a self-sustainable house with him on Thursday.

Wednesday -
Today, I started by helping Chieko cook breakfast. We had some sort of fish-bread and pancakes with figs that her neighbour had brought round. After, we finished clearing the field (my wrists and shoulders ache a lot now) and then we helped install a sink in her bathroom (a pedestal on bricks with a metal bowl on top). Chieko has an old style bathroom and toilet which means recycling bathwater for a few days and the dreaded hole in the floor. I like the idea of hot spring baths where the water constantly pumps through but an ofuro (a tub filled with water and then reused between people for a few days) is not so exotic. Mostly just gross.
In the evening, we went to the nearest supermarket to pick up Chieko's shopping and then had dinner with some of her friends. Her friends were really nice and seem to have an infatuation with earthenware bells, which they unleashed from a bag and let us choose our favourites as souvenirs which was nice of them.
At 8.30pm we finally got some free time. Im a little concerned because although the work is fun, it's meant to be for 6 hours a day with a day off. We seem to be on the go from 8 til 8. Im glad that we have a lot to do though as it makes the day go by fast, Im just pretty knackered!

Thursday -
Today we went to Gavin's place to help buid his ecofriendly house. It was mostly shovelling gravel around but the landslides made it fun. In the evening Gavin invited us over for some thank-you drinks. We had a few too many and stumbled home in the dark.

Friday -
Today Ed was not so well after drinking too much. Luckily, Shiinasan didn't mind and he lied in while I helped out, not feeling my best though. Lunchtime was really difficult though. Shiinasan's neighbour had brought over an entire squid for me to eat. It was a looong rubbery hangover lunch. In the evening we went over to her artist friend's house and we started looking in her design books and chatting. She played crystal ball sound effects as we went to sleep. I didn't find them especially relaxing but it made her happy.

Saturday -
Today we helped the artist in her field which was nice. Shiinasan seems a bit lazy when it comes to other peoples farms, we all sat down on the riverside for 20 minutes when we were meant to be helping. Not that I cared! She also took us to her studio which her and her friends built. It was really amazing.

Sunday -
Today was community-work day! In the morning, everyone gathered together to do the gardening and cleaning along the Marumori roadsides. It was fun and everyone was really friendly. Everybody was rewarded with a bottle of cold green-tea to drink afterwards, I'm a little fed up of that stuff though, you get overfed it at farm hosts and cheap Japanese diners. However, in the afternoon Shiinasan took us to her friend's ramen shop for a really nice lunch. Her friend played Sakura Sakura on the koto (some instrument) as we ate, it was a lot of fun. Afterwards we helped Gavin again with his house. We met a Japanese woman who spoke English. Her baby really took to Ed for some reason and spent a worryingly long amount of time in his wheelbarrow of gravel

Monday -
Our last day here we definitely didnt get a break, even though it was raining. We were cleaning windows the cheap non-chemical way. I think they were cleaner before we started. Afterwards, I was not so impressed, as Shiinasan made me sharpen her lifetime collection of pencils, then asked me to arrange them by colour and then arrange them in a box beautifully. Not exactly thrilling. We also spent a lot of the day making a curry for a curry party Shiinasan decided to have. The party was a lot of fun. I was a little dismayed to see Shiinasan let a toddler play with all the pencils I had sorted and dump them on the floor. But I wasn't asked to resort them so I didn't care too much. When everyone left, Shiinasan gave us a gift - a pretty dishcloth. A strange present but it meant a lot as she didn't have a lot of money.

A Little Lost

Today we packed up and headed to our next host in Miyagi prefecture. JR at Tokyo train station are a real pain in the ass. We wanted to exchange our Hokkaido rail passes for when we needed them and to buy a special offer JR East pass. These are supposed to be available from any midorimadoguchi (green window offices). In Tokyo station, there are about 8. However, each one is operated by different parts of JR (East, West, Kyushu) and although they are meant to be the main place to go for english-speaking travellers, they spoke appalling broken english and didnt seem to know which office we needed to go to. So after following assistant-drawn maps to about 5 of the offices, we finally got our East pass and were told to exchange our Hokkaido pass when we were in Hokkaido. But of course, not every train station in Hokkaido has an office, which renders having a Hokkaido pass useless until we discover one. I was not so impressed.
After we got to our destination, we were concerned to find no phone at the rural station to phone our guests. We explored and found some Japanese builders who said there were no phones in the area and our destination was over an hours walk away. So we headed back onto the train, went 2 stops down and used the phone at a busier station to contact the host. The host came to meet us halfway along the walk to hers, so we found her after about half hour. In all, we wasted about 2 hours by not being able to phone her from the station. I was getting very fed up of today.
Eventually, we met Chieko and she was really nice. We ate some great Thai food and talked a bit. Then we got an early night because it was already dark by the time we got back to the house. At least I don't have to face JR (Japan Rail) again for another week!

Harajuku Girl Time!.....or not.

Today we set out to explore Harajuku and Yoyogi Park, hoping to see some cosplay. It didn't quite go to plan. We got to Harajuku and headed over to the cosplay bridge but didn't see any weird fashion, just some photographers sat down waiting. In the meanwhile, we headed to Meiji shrine which was next to the train station. It was an interesting place and we got to see some weddings taking place. However, I'm feeling a little templed-out. Compared to Koyasan and Kyotos temples, shrines like this get dwarfed. After strolling around the temple (filled with Americans and Australians saying things like "Can we go get a Coke now?", we headed back to the bridge. More photographers had gathered but nothing to photograph yet. So we decided to head to Yoyogi park for a walk. Yoyogi park was amazing. It was full of food stores and crammed with various music bands. The first act we came across was a solo painter-club-music-dancer club-music-dj performer. He attracted a lot of attention with his soulful hiphop dancing as he painted some pretty-ok paintings. Then we started to head towards the music. We saw a great band called the Loovees who seemed to do 50s style music mixed with para-para dancing. It was good fun, they were really enjoying myself. Then we strolled back along to the bridge, passing piano ballad artists sandwiched meters apart from rock bands and heavy metal bands. We got back to the bridge and still saw nothing, we figured they appeared after lunch. We went to get something to eat and went back into the park to eat it. Afterwards we got drawn to some 40-65 year olds dancing around to 1950's Grease/Elvis type music. It seemed that they were part of various tribes that form and gather in the area on Sundays.
About 3pm, we headed back to the bridge. Some cosplayers had arrived but it was such a letdown. It was just a load of lolita/goth types that were more interested in taking photos of each other and turned their backs to the many photographers that had come to see them. In fairness, it was a lot of fat white men with cameras dangled around their necks and old couples come to see the freak show. But I thought they could have been a little less antisocial.

The Future Building

Ed fell asleep before he managed to set his alarm last night so we ended up waking a little late. However we did have time to head over to Odaiba to go visit the Miraikan (future building). Getting there was half the fun. On the way there, in one of the many station>department store>station complexes was a book shop with a book about Ghilbi's latest offering, Punyo. Normally I would not pick up a kids comic book but this had all of the kanji used with furigana so it is really useful for learning kanji for me. And the artwork is great. Also on the way there, we took a strange train that seemed to float through the sky. The track was suspended in the air and the rail was low so it seemed to weave between the Tokyo skyscrapers and across the sea to Odaiba.
The Miraikan in Odaiba was really interesting. It was huge and was home to the Asimo robot. I was excited to go to the demo of it but unfortunately they seemed to be using its technology in another robot and were just displaying how it "could move". Lame. At least I got to see it in person though, even if it was dead inside. I managed to get the last seat of the "cyber human" show in the virtual reality theatre. However, its not as exciting as it sounds. It was more 90s-style-schoolfilm about hospital technology on a huge screen. Not quite virtual reality. So yeah, the shows they held were pretty overhyped but the exhibits were cool.
After we went out to Shinjuku to have a second attempt at finding "Disk Union". This time we found it and I managed to grab used Orange Range, Dragon Ash, Every Little Thing and Bonnie Pink albums for about £5 the lot. Great!
When we went to look for somewhere for dinner, Ed got harassed by a man selling women it seemed. At least I knew enough negative Japanese to get him away from us.
All in all, a fun day but I should stop buying things until we come back here again next month"

Art for grown ups and art for children.

Today was an arty day!
In the morning, we headed to the photography museum which had free admission with our GRUTT passes. However, that was just to the top floor which had some nice old photos if you like that sort of thing. We had to pay a hefty 1000yen (£5) to see the latest exhibitions. They were pretty typical random contemporary art things; Random nudity, decaying rabbits etc.
After the photography museum we went to the Ghibli Museum which was really cool, even the building. It was a house crammed with weird artworks and concepts. They had some pretty spectacular animation technique displays. The free screening of an original short film was great too. All in Japanese but I guess the focus was on the animation anyway. The only bad thing about the museum was the gift shop. It was full of absolute crap. I mean, half the shop was a counter to get a china Totoro dinner plate set. Really tacky. But the Japanese were really loving it, with you hardly being able to move for all the people that were too old to be buying overpriced toys in your way. Studio Ghibli merchandise is available in pretty much any anime or toy shop in Japan, so why everyone went so crazy in there is beyond me.
And so, with me feeling souvenierless, we went to Akihabara. Its fun to look around there, especially in the evening when the otaku come out. They were all running down the stairs of Animate with copies of their latest mangas or suggestive schoolgirl figurines, eager to get home.
So a fun day of art and anime of lots of different kinds, even if I didnt buy anything for myself.

Akihabara!!!

We spent the morning in Shinjuku, trying to find a couple of used CD shops I had read about online. The first was Recofan which we found pretty easily. I managed to grab a M-Flo and Utada album for about 600yen (£3). In the same department building was Uniqlo, Japan's budget clothing chain. We went in expecting to find a clone of Burton but they actually had some pretty nice things in there, especially on sale. I want to head back in there before we go back to England.
Then we spent a little time looking for Disk Union, a store famed on the internet for its cheap hard-to-find CDs. Couldnt find it, even with a map. Finding anywhere particular in Japan is near impossible if you arent local. So we gave up and headed to Akihabara to meet my friend Kazuki, who I had met on Skype. He gave us a guided tour of the weirdest places in Akihabara, he didn't seem too embarrassed by that sort of thing. We had to work out what some of the things on sale were, such as a vibrating cushion to sit on while you play your PS2. Both Kazuki and the actual shops referred to these items as junk, and there were piles of odd contraptions, crappy figures and bits of PCs you could buy in such junk boxes.
After trawling the anime side of akihabara, we headed to Yodobashi department store where Kazuki wanted to buy a new camera. The place was HUGE. About 7 floors. It had an entire section, the size of a shop, to buy mobile phone straps. There doesn't seem to be anything you cant get there for a decent price. Almost wish I had saved up some money to get a new camera there.
After Yodobashi, we went out for Chinese food. It was really fun to hang out with Kazuki and talk about different things.
In the evening, Kazuki headed home and we headed to Harajuku to see the park. However, we never made it to the park because the clothes shops were so much more interesting. They have a lot of second-hand cloth shops where you can by some faded t-shirts if you like but the rest of the stuff is actually pretty cool. Might pick me up something there.
After, we went back to the hostel, with an ice-cream, pretty exhausted. We seem to be getting into a bad habit with buying ice creams every day but the weather is warm even at night, so why not.

SUMO!!!!

Today was sumo day. We headed to the stadium early and picked us up some cheap backrow tickets (200yen/£10). The matches started at 2.30ish so we arrived a little before-hand to see the ceremonies. We could see pretty well from the back and the stadium wasnt particularly crowded yet.
I didnt realise how short the matches last. It was literally 3-15 seconds of wrestling and then preparation for the next match. The preparation was pretty lengthy. It was a bout 3 minutes of throwing salt, singing, drinking and throwing more salt. After about 40 matches, thats 2 hours of watching people throwing salt around. Ed started to fall asleep. It was worth it though, especially to see the wrestlers fall on the rich people ringside. And some of the wrestling was pretty brutal and bitch-slappy too.
In the evening we headed back to Shibuya where there were lots of singers. There was one duet that was particularly good. Singers who pull faces are definitely more entertaining to watch. There was one 'rounded' female fan who seemed to know the words inside out and mimed along as she danced. It was really good fun to watch.

More museums

Today we went to the Natural History and suchlike museum. It was amazing. They had a 360 degree theatre that took you through mountains, space, the sea and to the dinosaurs. It was really clever, you really felt like you were flying around. The rest of the museum was just as huge and filled to the brim with all the dead stuffed animals that you could ever wish to sea. It was exhausting! It also took up most of our day so we didnt get to see any other museums. But at this point, I'm a little museumed out.
We spent the evening in Shibuya again. We decided to be lazy and find something easy to eat. We went to 'Freshness Burger'. I dont know how fresh it was, I havent much to compare it to, haven't had a fast food burger in over a year! But it was not too bad, kinda pricey though!
Hopefully we will eat somewhere a bit more interesting tomorrow.

So many museums...

Today we got ourselves a GRUTT pass (2000yen/£10) which allows us free/discount admission to most of the best places and museums in Tokyo for 2 months.
We used it first to get in to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. The museum was huge with so many exhibitions about the past of Tokyo. It was also pretty reading-hefty. I think I spent more time reading than looking at exhibits! But at least there was some good english explanation. They had a lot of models and full-size replicas of buildings. It was really good.
Afterwards, we managed to get into Tokyo Sealife Park just before last admissions (the door closed about 15 seconds after we got in). The exhibitions werent as impressive as the Osaka aquarium but it was set in a beautiful place looking out into the sea and it was nice to look at things again instead of reading about them.
In the evening, we decided to explore Shibuya. Shibuya is an amazing place, especially at night when it fills with the young people surging over the giant crossing between the train stations and shopping parades. We headed into one of them and had some tonkatsu at a cheap restaurant. Shibuya is full of towering department buildings and neon signs, no wonder it attracts the younger people of Tokyo.
I am looking forward to next month when we will be staying in a capsule hotel after a night out clubbing in Shibuya.

On the highway bus to Tokyo

It was time to head to Tokyo and with our JR rail passes expired, we planned to get the highway bus. It was supposed to take about 6 hours but ended taking up 8. So we arrived pretty late with most local restaurants having closed early. So we had to have a convenience food dinner. I decided to have something hot so bought some instant noodles and headed to the hostel kitchen to make them up. However we decided to be antisocial and eat in our room. Most people were sat alone, looking miserable with cheap food and beer in front of them. Wasn't the most comfortable place to hang around. Will definitely make sure to eat out this week!

Temple Hopping in Kyoto

Today we went out to visit as many of the main temples as we could see. However it was a busy Saturday so we managed to fit in about 3. The first had the gold covered temple in which was really pretty. The second was a huge complex of temples (including a love-finding temple) and we saw a couple of geisha wandering around which was cool. The third temple had 1000 statues of Kannon in which was amazing but 1000 of the same statue gets a little samey after a while.
In the evening we went to Gion and had a yakitori dinner. It was about 4 -5 courses of fried chicken dishes. It was really good, unhealthy Japanese food. I even had some beer with it.
I had a good time in Kyoto and its nice to have a few temples to come back to and visit again.

To Kyoto!

This morning we were dropped off at the train station after heading to a hot spring river that the driver insisted we go to first. Im glad he did as it was nice there and we never got to go up Mount Aso because of typhoons and poison gasses etc.
We got to our hostel early evening. The hostel was nice but we got the room next to the bathroom again which means listening to gurgling and spitting alot.
We went out to Sukiya for dinner, it was really fast and cheap. I had a chinese rice dish for about £3.50. Good value, but I question the nutrition.
After dinner, we went out to explore the shrine gate temple. It was really good to go at night when nobody was around but it was a bit eerie as it wasn't well lit.

Venturing to Mount Aso - kinda

we hopped onto some trains going to Mount Aso, a collection of mountains surrounding one huge mountain. However, the weather was not so good as we are now on the edge of the typhoon. So we arrived at the station, grabbed some lunch and rang the pension where we are staying to be collected. The people at the pension (Pension Angelica) are really nice and the house is beautiful. It's not very close to the attractions however and because its getting typhoony, we figured it'd be a good idea to stop in and have a rest. Dinner was about 5 courses, each really good. It was nice to have something familiar as opposed to noodles and salty vegetables. Though I like both to be honest. The best thing about the place is it has its own private onsen bath which might be worth getting up early tomorrow for another go in.
So although not a very sight-seeingy day, I'm happy to have a rest from trekking around and hostels (which I got about 10 days of after this so I might get an early night!).

Next Island - Kyushu!

We spent the morning getting to Mt. Misen on Miyajima. We took a ropeway up and I could head monkeys. Unfortunately, I didn't see any monkeys and we had to leave to check out. We got the ferry back to Miyajimaguchi and then realised we could use our JR Rail Passes to take the JR line back into Hiroshima. On the way to Miyajima, we were a bit dense and used the crowded tram for an hour.
We were only changing at Hiroshima as we were heading to Fukuoka, so we Shinkansened our way down there pretty speedily.
At first, I didnt much like Fukuoka. Its pretty much the same as all the other cities, as soon as you get off they all look the same - long busy crossings and rows of convenience shops. However, our guest house was nice but for some reason the floor was slightly vibrating. I don't think the water in the flask stayed still our entire stay, kinda like in Jurassic Park. We decided to venture out to see some sights of Fukoka. We were in the main sightseeing part. Funnily enough, we never made it to any sights. Fukoka is very confusing. Well actually, Japan is very confusing. We finally found the building the art museum was set in, or rather the collection of 3 20-floor buildings it could be in. After about 40 minutes of wandering around the complex, we found it. Closed Wednedays. So we went back to find the folk museum which was meant to be part of a mini old-fashioned town next to our guesthouse. We went down every street in the block, no sign of an old fashioned town. I was starting to get a little annoyed. We decided we should go back for a rest and decide on the next location.
I fell asleep a little and then it became nighttime. Thankfully, Fukuoka really came alive at night. All the scaffholding was hidden amongst the neon signs and we decided to head to Canal City for sightseeing and dinner. Canal City was amazing. I stopped off at HMV to see the J-music they were selling. I found quite a few things I wanted but decided I should do my impulse-buying during the second trip in Tokyo so I didnt have to lug a rucksack full of CDs around Japan for the next 6 weeks. Im very much eyeing up an M-Flo live tour DVD though...
After HMV we gradually headed up the floors to Sega World where I had a go on the Taiko Drumming game. It was good fun. We then headed to the ramen stadium, a floor of ramen shops that were apparently all different but they all seemed the same to me. We ventured up to a Ramen electronic-ordering machine, it was pretty easy to use and the pictures helped. I liked my ramen a lot, it was really salty which I like. However it had fish in so Ed didnt like it so much. I think Ed is beyond saving now, he will just have to stomach some fish on occasion. When we were walking out, they announced the fountain show was beginning so we rushed to the balcony and watched. I had never seen one before, it was fun!
Liking Fukuoka now, we went back to the guesthouse. Our room was huge but the vibrating floor, noisy downstairs and the crap pillows (what is it with pillows filled with beans here...something soft would be nice?), I didnt sleep so well. But all in all, Fukuoka is fantastic....but only at night.

Hiroshima Peace Park and Miyajima

This morning we got up early to go to the peace park before checkout. The weather was great and I managed to take a lot of good photos today. The peace park was smaller than I imagined but had a lot of interesting monuments. The museum exhibiting paintings by those who had witnessed the bomb was really sad. The deformed nail clipping in a case was quite a bizarre addition to the exhibition. You wouldn't know at all that Hiroshima had been bombed flat, it looks like any regular city.
In the afternoon we went to Miyajima, where am I staying in a ryokan now. Its such a beautiful island with lots of monuments and wild deer. It was nice to walk around in the day but it is flocked by tourists. They seemed to leave after 5 and walking around is a lot more enjoyable without having to dodge camera shots. We went out for dinner at another okonomiyaki place but had friend noodles instead. It was really cheap (680 yen/£3). After going to see the famous torii gate lit up at night, we headed back to the hotel where I proceeded to break the blinds slightly. It wasnt very obvious. Hopefully I can hide it by the morning!

Back to the mainland - Hiroshima

Today we headed to Hiroshima. We got there quite late and went out for an okonomiyaki which is supposed to be thought of as a Japanese pizza. I dont think so. Its a layered cabbage and meat and onion mix with a friend egg and soy sauce. They usually arent layered, but its a specialty way of making it in Hiroshima. It sounds wierd but it was REALLY good and really cheap. I will definately be having more of those in Japan.

On to Uwajima and Matsuyama!

Today we were heading to Matsuyama stopping at Uwajima. Uwajima has a sex shrine and museum. And a really big fancy temple. But I thought the sex museum was more entertaining. You werent allowed to take photos in there, but I think most of the images will stick with me. Kittens just arent meant to be used for that kind of things. The museum was mainly a collection of sex pictures, sculptures and things that reminded the collector of sex. This seemed to include a plastic toy corn-cob and a wind up turtle. Whatever floats his boat I guess.
We continued onward to Matsuyama....where we went to the onsen! It was quite strange to be bathing with a lot of naked Japanese men, but it didnt feel that wierd to be naked. it took us a while to understand the process but somebody (a fully clothed assistant) made sure we were ok. What I found odd was that some men used a small towel to cover themselves up until they got in.....to the crystal clear water. Kind of defeats the object.
After we left, it turned out there was a Taiko drum band playing outside. They were really good and we watched them until they finished. After that, we went for dinner at a cafe. I had curry again....it was ok but 40% of the plate was sauce. After that, we grabbed an ice cream and headed back to the hostel. I slept all the way through the night which is a first in a while. Perhaps it was the magical spring water?

To Kochi!

Today we left the host and went to Kochi, on a new island! We stayed in a business hotel so it was nice to have our own private bathroom and beds again. We arrived quite late and decided to spend the day relaxing as there wasn't so much to do. It was fun to watch some Japanese tv. Japanese tv is so budget though, from shakey-hand-cam to cheap actors.
We went out for a stroll and came across a 100 yen shop. After stocking up on things we didnt need but couldnt afford *not* to buy, we returned back to the hotel and had instant noodles and some other healthier stuff. Really needed that break!

My WWOOF Nara Experience

So we arrived Saturday and were picked up by two really great but unexpected people.

Sunday:
On Sunday, we went to help at a small market outside a shop. Everyone was really nice. One person gave up some bamboo sake cups he makes. The shopkeeper also took a liking to us. He asked if we could go with him to his english conversational class after lunch. So of course, after an onigiri lunch, we went over with him. We picked up the teacher on the way. The teacher was American and his spelling pretty bad. Guess it was a good job that the class was a conversational one. We talked about many odd things ranging from holidays on boats to dead dogs. It was a lot of fun. One of the class members even got me and Ed a drink from the vending machine. In the evening, we went back and stayed up late chatting about food and anime. Su-chan gave us a foodmap of Japan and the regional dishes that we had to eat.

Monday:
Monday was strange. We were moved to the original host, Tabuchi and Kenchan in their not so nice house. We got there, and then were ignored a bit, and then they said they had an emergency and had to go so they left us with a new friend who was also really nice. We planted spinach. When it started to get dark, we were told we were being collected....but it wasnt by Tabuchi....we had been offloaded again. We were collected by a guy called Mashisan, he was a lot of fun. He was fairly old and he took us to an Udon restaurant and bought us set menus. We chatted in Japanese and had a good dinner. He then said he would take us back to the farm and wait for Tabuchi and Kenchan to come home, as he was going to stay overnight. So we sat up with him and drank sake. Each glass, his English worsened. It was very funny. Eventually they came home and we went to bed.

Tuesday to Wednesday:
We were pretty much ignored these days. We were told to get up at 8 and then when we did nobody would be around. I wasnt so impressed. One night, we were given a ready meal to eat alone while they entertained their girlfriends. At this point, I started considering ditching the hosts and to head to Nara city.

Thursday:
Today was one of the best days of the week. Everyone came over; Su-chan, Soryo and Mashisan and more to do some work in the area. It was quite tough work but it was fun working together and at the end we had ice cream and played Frisbee. We had curry for dinner. The dinners they were preparing were made out of only things they grew. There is only a limited amount of things you can do with just 3 vegetables. So something to disguise the taste of eggplant was welcome.

Friday:
Today we helped Tabuchi with his farm. He grew soy beans. Tabuchi and Kenchan were pretty lazy farmers. Their fields were overgrown with weeds to the point parts had rotten away. However, it was good to fix what we could and Tabuchi was more talkative so we got on well. It was good to leave with a good impression on the last day. Even if their toilet was maggot infested. *shudder*.

To the first WWOOF host.

Today was time to leave Koyasan and head to the first farmstay. On the cable car down, I noticed another foriegner playing utada hikaru on his mp3 player. I guess Im not alone!
So we got onto the train and headed to Nara. When we arrived, I went to phone the host...and his number didnt work! Paniced, i asked a Japanese guy for help and his friend got hotmail up on his mobile so I could check the number. The number was right, but luckily, the host had sent me someone elses number to ring. It was all a little suspicious. But I rang up and two really great people came to collect us. Su-chan and Soryo. They had a beautiful home high up in the mountains. It was amazing and beautiful. They were really friendly and showed us all about what they do. The food they made was great too. They believed that sticky food was very good for you.

To Koyasan!

Today was Koyasan day! Was very excited to be going to a temple village in the middle of some mountains. We even stayed in a temple called Haryoin. On the way there we were told we were in a special train. Whod have thought a "limited express" is faster and more expensive than a regular express? Anyway, the woman was very understanding and even gave us some bus times. The cable car to the mountain was so crowded so I couldnt really see out but I didnt mind so much, would see more when we came back down. We straight away went to drop off our heavy luggage. We found our temple and an important looking monk tumbled out....and then into a taxi. Monks are way too special for busses I guess.
After that we went to explore the temples. They were amazing. It started to rain really heavily but it was amazing watching the rain flow off all of the ornate roofs. In the end, a Japanese woman gave us her spare umbrella so we could move around. The Japanese are amazingly kind. We eventually went back to the temple we were staying at. Dinner was wierd. It was monk food and the atmosphere was very tense, nobody wanted to talk during dinner. I liked my dinner, except for some wied cold sauced mushrooms. A lot of people left them but I thought it was politer to eat the disgusting things. We decided not to have a bath because they seemed to have enough trouble with the cleanliness of the toilet. We tried to go to see the graveyard in the evenings but it was way too dark and the streets were deserted. I found it a little creepy. When we got back, we put on our yukatas and went to sleep. I slept really well.

Osaka Sightseeing

As today was our first full day in Japan, we ventured on the subway so we could see more stuff quickly.
We started off at Osaka Aquarium. It had a whale swimming around in the main tank. It was a really amazing aquarium. They had some huge jellyfish. It was really funny seeing the Japanese schoolkids all buddied-up running around in their colour-coordinated hats. Next to the aquarium was the biggest ferris wheel in the world, so we had to go on that.
After that, we went to Osaka castle park to see the castle. The observation deck up there was also really high up and had some good views of Osaka. However, they werent nearly as amazing as the view from the Umeda Sky Building Floating Garden Observatory that we went to in the evening. Osaka at night was amazing and we spent ages up there not wanting to come back as Im not going to see a skyskape like that for a good few years!
So today was a lot of fun, spent alot on admissions but it was completely worth it. Next we are heading to Koyasan and then to our first wwoof host so wont be adding a blog entry for about a week.

Got to Osaka!

We finally got to Osaka yesterday, after the flight went a bit wrong. We ended up in China....but they got us here. The staff at the airport were very unhappy with us for being English. Even though there were no other people to check-in, they were really rude and insisted on checking through my bag. But I was too tired to care really. Then we got the wrong train! But I managed to get some help. Then I lost my ticket so I had to do a runby when Ed got through the barrier. Then we got lost, but I managed to get some directions from a Japanese girl.
But today was a lot better. We went to Tonnoji and went on a huge walk around Shinsekai (where we had a really cheap fried noodle dinner!) and then on to DenDen (electric) town. It was good fun and Ive had lots of cheap sushi today. Im really getting on well with cheap Japanese food. Ed is convinced everything has fish in though.