Finally, after sorting through five days, four nights, and three hundred and fifteen pictures, here's my Japan trip blog post.

Saturday, 13th June

Changi Airport Terminal 3 never ceases to impress me every time I go there.

The day started really early, like at 1 AM, when the plane took off. I had a really long day (see previous post), so I just switched off, sleeping before the plane actually took off, and sleeping straight through the take off. Woke up for breakfast though.

Landed in Chūbu Centrair International Airport, built on an artificial island, then we took the train to Nagoya; the train having a curious name of μ Sky Express (pronounced miu). Upon checking in to our hotel, I promptly fell asleep.

Woke up at 2:00 PM (local time, one hour ahead of Singapore), and we went out to shop, eat, and sightsee near the Nagoya TV Tower. Returned back near 6:30 PM.

Didn't do much today, but there's a Yamaha shop right next to my hotel with seven stories of goods worth browsing. Will go there tomorrow.

End day.


Sunday, 14th June

I must commend Nagoya, and the Japanese in general, for having very clean habits and good public awareness. There's is virtually NO litter lying about anywhere; even in public, open squares where one might expect to find tissues blowing about and cups being left on benches.

Yet, I also see no cleaners at work. Furthermore, dustbins are very scarce here, meaning that not only do the residents here not litter, they take their trash back with them, and dispose of it privately. When I say scarce, I mean that I had to walk about 5-10 minutes before finding a dustbin in a shopping mall.

Wow. If only Singapore could achieve this level.

Anyway, woke at 8:15 AM for breakfast, then we went to the Noritake Garden. Not strictly a garden, the Noritake Garden is an exhibition of Noritake goods, namely pottery.

And I'm not so good with looking at pottery. But the Garden part of it was relaxing.

A curious piece of information is that all these ceramic goods were created purely for export. Using such utensils aren't part of Japanese tradition, and this industry was created for trading sake.

Jumping to lunch at Nagoya Station (where the queues were LONG), then to a visit to Nagoya Castle. Nagoya Castle was destroyed in World War II, but the main donjon (like keeps) and a couple of smaller donjons have since been reconstructed.

More history here. And I'm not good at history much either.

Went back to the Yamaha shop to check prices and browse around. In the end, didn't buy anything, because the prices are the same as, if not more expensive than, Singapore.

End day.


Monday, 15th June

We went sightseeing in the region of Inuyama, Aichi province. First up was a monkey park; and we totally thought it was a innocent monkey park until we were greeted by...

And collect 30 Safari Balls. No, just joking. But half of the park was a Pokemon amusement park... and that was quickly bypassed...

The other half of it contained genuine monkeys, thankfully. From spider monkeys to Japanese monkeys to Anubis baboons, there was plenty to see (and smell) here.

After the park closed, and dinner was had, and it was time for cormorant fishing. Or watching it. The concept behind this unique method of fishing is by tying tight rings around the necks of the cormorants (birds) and leashing them. Fire is then used to attract fish, and the cormorants dive to catch the fish. The thing is that the cormorants are unable to swallow, on account of the ring, and the handlers are thus able to retrieve the fish from the mouth of the bird.

Took the subway back.

End day.


Tuesday, 16th June

Today was probably the most interesting day as it entailed a little "expedition". We tripped to, over, and around Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park using seven different modes of transport, as featured in the guidebook.

These seven modes are (pictures by yours truly)...

Bullet train (or shinkansen) from Nagoya to Odawara, then conventional train up the gentle slopes of some mountain (Motohakone, I believe), then monorail up the steeper parts, then cable car through the more impassable valleys and peaks to the top. Cable car back down to Lake Ashi, then boat to the other end of the lake, walk through the woods to the bus stop, then bus all the way back to the train station.

The mist near the top of the mountain was so thick, sitting in a cable car amid the thick clouds seemed to be a rather ghostly experience, with naught but the occasional cable car drifting by in the opposite direction.

Apparently they sell hard boiled eggs (boiled in the hot springs) that can lengthen your lifespan by seven years upon eating.

The lake was less fogged over, and a pleasant 40 minute trip brought us to the other bank.

The oak trees along the path to the bus stop were apparently planted as a gift from the king to weary travelers to shade them from the snow during winter. Didn't really protect us from the strong wind, but that's okay.

Uneventful bus ride, save some noisy schoolkids terrorizing the bus. The journey on the bullet train back to Nagoya, and the events after are a bit blurry, because I was tired ><.

End day.


Wednesday, 17th June

Had a sleepless night, for some reason, and thus woke at 7:00 AM still tired.

There was a little episode at about 7:55 AM when my dad and I tried to exit the room to check out and discovered... the door couldn't be opened. The knob couldn't turn. We called the reception, and there was a big fuss on the other side of the door (our flight was at 11:00 AM, still a train ride away) but finally my dad got it open somehow through forcing and a piece of stiff paper.

Rushed to Nagoya Station, then took the same curiously-named μ Sky Express back to the airport. Plane left at 11:00 AM, and we sat on the most turbulent flight I have ever been on. Seriously.

But I'm back in one piece, thankfully.

Japan was fun, but it's back to the real world. Priorities go to sorting out the situation in the band (from all the accounts I've been hearing it's not good), mugging for CTs, and making sure I don't catch H1N1.

It's gonna be a hell of a week.

End day?

Labels: random