2008.07.21 - Flight to Japan

As I flew into the future, the first day was used up by flying the almost 12 hours to Narita

The wing of my Airbus Finland That's the darkest it gets over Siberia in Summer

2008.07.22 - Moving in in Yokohama

After 12 hours coming from cold germany in a cold plan to 35 degrees hot and humid japan without sleep for the last 24 hours I was a little down. In China Town I couldn't eat more than a few bites. Only in the evening strolling around Yokohama Bay I got some energy back.

China town in Yokohama, one of the entry gates Myself in Yokohamas China town A chinese restaurant Unfortunately too much food for my jet-lagged and sleep-depraved metabolism In the small street which leads to the chinese restaurant Yokohama bay A look at Minato Mirai, "Port of the Future" A really nice koban coming from Yokohama Bay and going to Chinatown My room in Hostel Zen My room in Hostel Zen My room in Hostel Zen

2008.07.23 - Hakone and the Art of Soba

Jet lag still had me in it's clutches and I only slept two hours. But I was rewarded by being shown how to make my own soba and then eating it. This was done near Hakone where a friend of my japanese friend drove us with a rented car. Thank you again!

美味しそ At the sources of the Fujisan Clear water and a lot of chinese tourists Every koi is cool. 各鯉かっこい ! Ahahaha, I made a japanese joke! Selling a lot of foodstuff with tasties Hakone old Highway Tip: there is some english at the bottom A view over Lake Ashinoko at evening

2008.07.24 - Ghibli, Natsu Matsuri and Latte Art

Certainly one of the most eventful days of my life... First we visited the Ghibli museum in Mintaka, which is full of details and you can easily spend six hours in it. Then we went through a park to our next location, where we chanced upon a small and very authentic summer festival, where I ate Tako-yaki, which I liked very much. Then we continued to the cafe which I had seen on HaroMoni which made Latte Art I liked very much. The guy who made our Latte Art was the same one as on TV and we had a very pleasant conversation with him.

An impression of Yokohama station at around 10 am. More impression of Yokohama station at around 10 am. The Ghibli museum. Unfortunately, no taking pictures inside Even though it's outside, it was bearable with a cool beer Notice the faucet Surprise! When we went on from Ghibli museum we came upon a small Natsu Matsuri A few taikos and dancers in Yukata. And all that far from any tourist centre. One can't get more authentic than this The organizers No japanese summer festival without Tako-yaki. Grilled balls of dough with a piece of octopus (tako) inside. 美味しい! My japanese friend knew what to get In front are bowls for individual seasoning. Use fresh chopsticks to load your plate! Latte art as seen on HaroMoni! A bear with a leaf for me A panda for my japanese friend. Me and my latte art. Done by the same guy that did the latte for Morning Musume! Shibuya at night Hachiko at night

2008.07.25 - Akihabara

In the morning I died and because I was a good geek/nerd/otaku I was brought to otaku-paradise: Akihabara. Because I was so busy looking through the shops I didn't take many pictures. I wanted to take more in the maid cafe, but they charged 1500 Yen (about 10 Euro) per picture.

"Akihabaras second cheapest store" A view of Akihabara Advertising for a cosplay cafe More advertising

2008.07.26 - Harajuku and chatting with Sayakasan

Next day my japanese friend went to a wedding and so I met with another acquaintance of mine. We met at Sebu-shinjuku and went on to Harajuku.

Some crazy combination of traditional, western and just crazy style to make a musical advertisement for a sale Some random pictures at Sebu-Shinjuku Some random pictures at Sebu-Shinjuku These drinking machines were omni-present. Always hot coffee and cool drinks at your fingertips. And not one of them vandalized Preparations for a street festival, which I didn't get to see The world's most crazy boutiques start here It really was filled Random picture of random people Random picture of random people Random picture of random people Random picture of random people Random picture of random people Random picture of random people Random picture of random people Random picture of random people Harajuku Very public location for that kind of shop

2008.07.27 - Meeting Yokosan; Harajuku, Ueno Natsu Matsuri and Sushi

The next day I met a friend which lived in germany for a year. Because I hadn't seen enough of Harajuku and especially the nearby park, I dragged her there again. Afterwards we met together with my main guide for coffee. Later we went to the Ueno Natsu Matsuri, which was very pleasant, but unfortunately cut short by rain, before I even got some Takoyaki. But that was ok, as we went to a very nice Sushi-restaurant and I got to eat sushi the original style.

One of the countless examples of japlish Shibuya at Hachiko-Exit Shibuya Hachiko-statue crowded with people Hachiko-statue Department store with employees announicing a sale A small shrine on the road from Shibuya to Harajuku Buddhist A look inside the small shrine A boutique in Harajuku A boutique in Harajuku Another boutique Harajuku train station People in the park near Harajuku station People in the park near Harajuku station People in the park near Harajuku station People in the park near Harajuku station People in the park near Harajuku station People in the park near Harajuku station Specialties by Lohmeyer. Expensive! A view on Ueno Park and the ongoing Natsu Matsuri (Japanese summer festival) The traditional food stalls Taiko-Players at the Ueno Park Natsu Matsuri Taiko-Players at the Ueno Park Natsu Matsuri (Video) Buddha statue at Ueno Park A view on the lake of Ueno Park and the lights of the Natsu Matsuri around it Ueno Park skyline at dusk Sushi and Asahi Dry Dessert, a kind of pudding

2008.07.28 - Odbaiba

At first I didn't know what to make of Odaiba, but I ended up liking it very much. It's a kind of future city, completely planned and built in a short time on an artificial island. Therefore it has the feel of being a little science fiction. Also there was the shopping mall called VenusFort, which I like very much.

A view of a typical overground-trainline in front of Ginza street A view on the Ginza by day Typical view of Odaiba The automatic train through Odaiba viewed from the inside Harbor with highways Me on the train through Odaiba Odaiba is full of modern architecture buildings. The writing means "Future-Building" Because the houses are built up, there is a lot of space for parks in between. Unfortunately it was too hot and humid for anyone to be outside of his or her free will on this day. VenusFort is a shopping mall designed to look like a mediterran village at sunset. Very nice! Of course, "We are waiting for next time" was obviously again not written for and by a native english speaker The fountain from the balcony of the first floor A look at the harbor from the gondola of the big ferris wheel in Odaiba Skyline of Odaiba and other business districts of Tokyo from the ferris wheel at sunset More sunset over Tokyo More sunset over Tokyo More sunset over Tokyo More sunset over Tokyo Highway and harbor at sunset. One can see by the coastline that the island of Odaiba is artificial The ferris wheel of Odaiba from below The famous shopping street "Ginza" by night A shopping street at Yokohama at around 10pm

2008.07.29 - Going to Nikkou, Onsen

We decided that Nikkou in one day would be too much stress and we would miss too much, so we decided on getting a room in a pension, which also gave me an opportunity to try out a real onsen. On the first day we went around Nikko towards the famous shrines and temples but only went to the outer area there.

Looking for a lunchbox (bentou) for the train ride to Nikko. A typical view of the food section at a department store Bento-lunchboxes are very common in japan, but nonetheless the food inside was freshly made at location and not prepacked in some factory More view of the food section Boarding the train to Nikko That was my lunchbox. Everything very Oishii (delicious) ! Leaving the Kanto-Area-sprawl, I saw the color green again The train closes in on Nikko The fountain in front of Nikko main station The village of Nikko looked very different from the Kanto-sprawl. Especially the gardens were very lush and beautiful Let's cross! We didn't cross the river, it was too deep after all, but very refreshing. This man spread out something too dry. I am sure it was very traditional, so I took a picture That's where we were A famous bridge called Shinkyo (Bridge of the gods) This is a stone at the entrance of the area of the shrines and temples Stairs leading up to the temples and shrines There were different flowers and plants everywhere. It was very nice too be surrounded by that much green The shrines were built very spread apart in the wood A typical walkway around the area of the outer shrines Outside of Toshogu, the more unknown shrines were more rarely visited, but as a result we were alone there Shrine A little shrine in the forest The stone stairs were very beautifuly overgrown with moss at the edges The walls of the stairs exhibited their own little hanging microforests A sign saying something about a way being used by horses This was off-limit, so I had to take a picture I have to admit I failed to look up who that was The carps in a garden in front of the Toshogu main shrine wanted to be fed by us The garden itself was unfortunately off-limits to enter A bronze pillar called "sorintou" which contains buddhist scripture and stands for world peace A typical buddhist temple bell You write down your prayer on a piece of paper and attach it to this The hotel had a very nice view of the forest The hotel had private onsen (hot bath). One side of it was open and gave us a view of the hillside forest.

2008.07.30 - Nikkou: Toshogu

The second day we tackled Toshogu shrine itself. From the amount of details and the amount of sights one could spend days there.

That's the pension where we stayed. Very recommendable by the way The stairs to the Toshogu main shrine A pagode inside the Toshogu main shrine Here you can see the paper prayers again The omote-Tor oder nioumon. Called after the two Deva (niou) which guard the gate An overview of the main toshogu area A lot of stone lantern line the path after the entrance. On the stone lantern you can see the Tokugawa symbol Those are the treasure houses lined by more stone lanterns On this picture you can see how the whole shrine area is integrated with the forest The top of this stone lantern (called tourou in japanese by the way) has a world all of its own The building showed so many pictures that one could take a whole day just looking at them in detail This archer is one of the guards of the next gate Every gate and building had a lot of details worked into it For some reason, sake from all over japan was stored here We waited a little, but no one came to carry us further, so we went on by foot Obviously some kind of life at court The sleeping cat is a very famous wood carving The tomb of Ieyasu Tokugawa, the first Shogun The stable has a lot of carvings of monkeys. Among the the famouse "See no evil, hear no evil, say no evil" monkeys. I was more curious in what this obviously female monkey from another carving wants to say Back at Nikko station, my japanese friend gives me the famous japanese photo pose Nice koban near the station

2008.08.01 - Meeting Ryousan in Katsushika-ku, Kamearikoen mae

I am a big fan of the Kochikame-manga. So I had to go to the area where the stories play and also take a few pictures of me and the live-sized statues of the main character Ryou-san, which were erected at the 30 years aniversary of the manga. In the evening we went to a Hanabi at Yokohama bay.

Ryou-san from Kochikame statue on the south side of Kameari-station Me in the same pose The north side, greeted by Ryou-san Me again wanting to be in the picture with Ryou-san That's the koban in front of the station of Kameari. That's the closest to a Koban in front of Kameari-koen there actually is A typical street in Kameari Kameari-koen, but no koban I don't want to be an electrician in japan In the evening we went to a big fireworks (hanabi). So were a lot of other people too The fireworks was in Yokohama Bay looking to Minato Mirai Every space here was already taken Many little boats also came to watch the hanabi On this lawn we easily found a place then Mostly young couples were here, many in Yukata This proves that it's not good to take pictures of fireworks if you don't know how

2008.08.02 to 2008.08.04 - Moving between Hotels and flying back

The final days we were a little exhausted and also had to switch hotels for because my flight was rather early on the last day.

The strawberrys actually looked like they had gold powder on them Flying back with ANA. Which was good as Lufthansa was on partial strike that week