All OVER Japan

Transcript

2008-10-03T00:32:00.003+09:00

Back in Singapore now... and yup, dreadful NUS is so busy(and stressful).
Kinda miss those days in Japan on exchange! What a fun experience.

Oh, i got my transcript from Tokyo Tech today:

Guess what!!!! I got A grade for all the 6 module which I intended to map back to NUS!!!
The remaning D is for a japanese language module which i took for fun - no need the credits.

Argghhh. LOL...all "A" ?!?!?!
("A" means >80marks)

I was shocked!

I guess TokyoTech is quite lenient towards exchange students like me after all... didnt expect to do so well. Hahaha.
And it is also such as pity that back in NUS, i am only able to map back the credits based on a pass/fail grade. In another words, all i have to do is to just PASS the modules, and i will gain the credit. If all these A grades were to be calculated to my current CAP (cumulative aggregate point), i guess it would really pull it up by quite a lot. Argghhhhh!

Have i worked too hard in Japan??? You tell me....
Perhaps I should have spent more time playing.

Looking at it from the OR (Operations Research) point of view, since all i needed was a PASS (>60marks), that would mean that every point i got above 60 marks was a wastage of resources! ie, i should have spent more time playing and lesser time on studies
Makes sense??

More Farewells

2008-08-17T01:18:00.004+09:00

My last few days in Japan were busy with farewell gatherings. Farewell to my labmates, farewell to my hosts, farewell to all my other groups of friends here in Tokyo.
Here are some random photos:

My labmates gave me a JinBei(甚平) for my farewell gift. Its sort of a Yukata(浴衣), but a more informal version.
Drinking party back in lab.

Completion Ceremony

2008-08-17T01:05:00.002+09:00

All the "hard work" over my stay here boils down to this - completion ceremony.
Each of the YSEP student took turns to give a short 8 min presentation about his research.

Seriously boring!! I know nuts about what the others are talking about. And I believe the others have no idea what i was blabbering about either. All 30 of us were from different fields, its unlikely that we understand all the technical terms and stuff the others are talking abt.

Some photos at the party after the ceremony:
This is Sato Sensei(佐藤先生)
and Hirose Sensei( 広瀬先生)

Party at ARGEHA (Tokyo's biggest club) that night : )

Mt Fuji Climbing Trip

2008-08-12T00:14:00.006+09:00

Mt Fuji (富士山) lies 3776m above sea level, highest point in Japan.
Pic of Mt Fuji from the base:

From the 5th station(around the middle of the mountain):

From the peak:
Here, you are way above the cloud level..

We started our climb near mid-nite, just to catch the beautiful sunrise
(Me wearing my team-NUS wind-breaker, haha, so "patriotic")

And to celebrate YAP's birthday (on the peak)

We carried a birthday cake and some candles all the way up. This pic was taken with the mountain crater as the backdrop. haha. What a memorable way to celebrate your birthday in Japan :)

The climb was generally fun. I like the cloudless night sky and the array of stars visible. I like the occasional shooting stars, where everybody will stop what they are doing to make a wish. I like the fresh air and serene peace up there....

The climb was slightly physically demanding, esp the decending route. But its shocking to see how some groups of old men and women (abt 60 plus years old) have the stamina and endurance to overtake us bunch of "kids" during the climb. Even some 5 year-old kids look so energtic after a nights' climb!
Perhaps for them, its no big deal - its most prob a regular daily/weekly exercise from them to climb up and down the mountain... LOL
Whilst i was shivering in the cold wind near the peak of the mountain, some girls near me were touching up their MAKE-UP!!!
Lesson learnt for gals: Bring your make-up kit wherever u go. You need to look good in photos.

Look at the crowd near the peak:
When i reached the top, I saw a girl dressed in SKIRT(with long thick socks) and low heels!!! OMG! Did she climb up in that attire? Or did she actually bring another set of clothes to change into when she reach the peak?

Its also rediculous to climb all the way to the top, just to find amenities like VENDING MACHINES and EATERIES up there! (of course, what else do u expect? its JAPAN!!)

Its so unlike what i expected out of a "highest mountain" - wilderness, vegetation, frost bite etc etc
I guess its just a matter of time before they build an Izakaya(drinking bar) and Pachinko palour(gambling arcade) up there too... not to mention a few convenient stores and MacDonalds.

heehee

Nebuta Festival @ Aomori

2008-08-05T02:03:00.004+09:00

After a long ferry ride through the channel from Hokkaido, we finally arrived at Aomori (青森) just in time for the Nebuta Festival (ねぶた祭り)

Its a street parade of colossal illuminated floats accompanied by dancers...

Here are some of the nicer-looking floats:

At night, where the real celebration begins, and all the floats light up....

Here's what the actual parade looks like...

Otaru Canal

2008-08-05T01:53:00.003+09:00

The symbol of Otaru City. The gaslights and stone warehouses along the canal produce a beautiful and romantic nightscape. Cafes, museums, restaurants & shops stretch along both banks.

Sapporo

2008-08-05T01:29:00.004+09:00

札幌

"Capital" of Hokkaido. Busy city, but not as busy as Tokyo, of course.

What better way to see the city than from up above??

And coincidently, we found this ferris wheel at the top of a building.

Hmmm...

so this is what Sapporo looks like from above...

This factory Produces this

the sapporo beer we see in supermarkets and convenient stores everywhere....

and this famous chocolate factory

produces this 白い恋人 "white lover" chocolate biscuit

A thin layer of white chocolate wrapped between 2 soft biscuits... yummy..

There's also a toy museum inside the building...

Other nice sights include this Sappore TV towerand the old Clock Tower

Furano

2008-08-05T00:28:00.006+09:00

Furano 富良野. A small town famous for its flowers.

There's nice puffy sunflowers(向日葵）

Nice Lavender fields (ラベンダー)

And a dozen other kinds of flowers of all shapes and colours.
We rented a bike and cycled around the town, fields and rivers... Visited the wine and cheeze factories (for FREE samples of wine and cheeze, of course)

Hakodate

2008-08-03T22:28:00.011+09:00

During the train ride to Hakodate, we dropped by a windy town.

You can see from the pic how Ahmet and I are enjoying the strong wind. And in between us... ermmm... an AFRO??? oh, its just Kim with her hair messed up by the wind.
haha

Next stop: Hakodate

函館 is probably the most romantic city in the whole of Japan. Coastal town, with nice slopes, marnia and architecture....

Many gentle slopes lead to the sea:
Western/Vintage style buildings everywhere...

Nice architectures of churches/charpels etc etc.

Also did some rock-climbing at the other end of the town
Bought a peach from the morning market. Check out Kim's "before" and "after" expression from eating the peach.

Conclusion: Peaches make pple happy???

At night, everything lights up in neon and yellow lights, increasing the romantic atmosphere...

This pic is taken from the top of Mt Hakodate. This small town is in between to arched coast. you can get a bird's eye view from here.

With this, I can conclude that Mt Hakodate is probably the best out of the "Top 3 night views" in Japan. (Refer to my previous blog entries, the other 2 are Mt Rokko in Kobe and Mt Inasa in Nagasaki)

Capsule Hotel

2008-08-03T21:52:00.004+09:00

Yet another Japanese invention.

(From wikipedia) A capsule hotel (カプセルホテル) is a hotel system of extremely dense occupancy. The guest space is reduced in size to a modular plastic or fibreglass block roughly 2 m by 1 m by 1.25 m, providing room to sleep. Facilities range in entertainment offerings (most include a television, an electronic console, and wireless internet connection). These capsules are stacked side by side and two units top to bottom, with steps providing access to the second level rooms.

This is what it looks like from outside:

And the inside:

My feet is in the pic, u can use it as a reference for its actual size. Facilities:

Small personal TVControl Panal: Radio, alarm, lights, TV control
Its small and cosy, and provides basically everything u need for a night's sleep. Its kinda small - or like an enlarged coffin - not for the claustrophobic pple. haha.

Matsu-shima Bay

2008-08-03T21:41:00.008+09:00

MaTsuShiMa (松島) is voted one of the most scenic places in Japan

This is why....

It has an amazing scenery for the bay and some small islands surrounding it...

Back on land, there are some nice shrines nearby

A ferry brings you around the islands... its a perfect opportunity to feed the seagulls then.

This is a bridge that connects the mainland to one of the smaller islands. Legend says that you will find your loved-one on this bridge while crossing it. But sigh... it was a weekday, and there was no one else around except us.

This stick of BBQ fish meat is one of the local specialty there.

Sendai

2008-08-03T21:09:00.006+09:00

Sendai(仙台)
one of the busiest cities north of japan above tokyo. When we reached there, the whole place was decorated to celebrate their 七夕(TaNa-BaTa) Festival a few days later. Its the same festival as the chinese's 牛郎织女.

At another corner of town, there was another small street parade..(not sure what they are celebrating, but it sure looks interesting)...

The most famous local speicalty in sendai is 牛タン (Cow's tongue).

And what can be more authentic than actually eating it from this shop which created/originated this dish decades ago:

Here is what the set meal looks like. Rice, soup, and meat. The soup consists of bean sprouts and some pieces of beef meat. The main dish consists of some veg and a few slices of barbequed cow tongue's meat!!

It taste quite good actually.. very chewy...

After shopping, we went to a nearby tower to see the night view of the whole city.

Nikko

2008-08-03T20:50:00.008+09:00

Ahmet, Kim and I took a 9-day road-trip together to explore the northern part of Japan.

First stop, Nikko (日光)

One of my labmates once said "はっきり見えず、もっと美しい". Things look prettier when you cant see it clearly. I think its quite true in this situation.

It was a misty and wet day... but the layer of mist added a mystical aura to the grand shrines and jungles in the area.

Went thru all the shrines just to see this:

The most famous architecture in Nikko: 3 monkeys. One covering its ears(no listening), one covering its mouth(no speaking), one covering its eyes(no seeing)

My homestay host: Uchida san, brought us around Nikko... :)

This pic is taken in front of the biggest river there...

For lunch, she brought us to this fancy restaurant, hidden within one of the landscape gardens

To eat this 5000yen steak set!!!

(wow.. so ex!!)

Dinner was a Yuba (Toufu) set meal

Video Arcade

2008-07-26T00:51:00.004+09:00

Here are some more unique games found in some video arcade:
Apart from the normal (big-sized) console machines,

There are weird things like this fish tank foot-reflexology. You just soak your feet in a tub full of fish, and the fish will nibble on the sole of your feet, thus biting away the dead skin cells.

There are also quite a number of simulated sports games such as this golf game:Here is my lousy attempt at a softball game (P.S. this is the FIRST time i tried playing this)

Kabuki

2008-07-25T02:05:00.004+09:00

Ahmet, Kim and I went to watch a Kabuki (歌舞伎) play at the National Theatre
Fun experience. Kabuki is a form of Japanese opera where men dress up as women in the play. (I have no idea why they do so, but the "female" character's voice sure sounded weird)

The theatre has a very high-tech stage

This is one of the "exciting" fighting scene... so dramatic...

The rest of the play was pretty much like the next video:

For those who know japanese: Do u understand a single word they are saying???

Its no wonder so many pple fell asleep in the theatre. haha.

Did u also realise how weird the female character(a guy) sound?

Odaiba

2008-07-23T03:06:00.009+09:00

Odaiba (お台場)

Some famous landmarks:
Ferris Wheel:

Fuji TV Building:There's a viewing gallery at the top in which u need to pay money to enter. Here's a tip: you dont actually have to pay to go up. Just follow the other elevator to the second highest floor - where a chinese restaurant is - and u get an equally good view from there. Furthermore, its FREE!!

(FAKE) Statue of Liberty

History Garage where u get to see vintage cars

Toyota also has a showroom there. Here are some of the cool stuff found there:

A Toyota-made robot which plays a trumpet!!

Toyota's Auto-drive car. Just like a themepark ride, all you have to do is to sit inside and enjoy the view as the car drives around automatically.

This is one of Toyota's new Hybrid car - Crown. It sure looks cool....

Hanabi (Fireworks)

2008-07-22T01:09:00.007+09:00

Hanabi festival (花火大会) falls in between late july and early august. There's practically a firework display every other day somewhere in Japan.
Its a tradition to wear bathrobes (Yukata 浴衣) and picnic when u watch the fireworks.
Here we are.. me and my labmates. Quite "kiasu", we reach the picnic spot 3 hours before the start of the fireworks just to secure a good seat.
Here are some unique ones. They come in various shapes - heart shape, ghost, jellyfish, cat face, flying saucer, butterfly, mushroom, spiral etc etc. Indeed impressive.

Heres a unique one.

Clubs, pubs, bars

2008-07-21T04:01:00.006+09:00

Apart from the fact that they are ridiculously expensive, clubs in Tokyo are otherwise quite fun to visit and hang out at. In contrast, Izakaya (居酒屋) is a more common and affordable place to get together and hang out in Japan.
Shibuya, Roppongi, Takadanobaba, etc are places full of clubs. Been to a few of those, some of them have very unique interior design. (Yipes, i realised that i dont have any nice photos to post here, cos i seldom bring my camera to clubs. sob.. sob... what a waste..)
The crowd is usually international.
Some new friends I made in a club:
Thai, Jap, Indian, and Me

Nice exterior design:

This particular club even had a live percussion performance:

Monja

2008-07-20T00:39:00.003+09:00

One of Tokyo's specialty - Monja. Its similar to the normal Okonomiyaki(お好み焼き), just stickier.
This particular street at Tsuki-Shima(月島) specializes in this food. The whole street is practically filled with Monja restaurants.
They even sell "Monja" t-shirts for 1000yen !!
The restaurant staff demonstrating how to cook a monja:After dinner, we went to the nearby Sumida River (隅田川) for a stroll. The building behind really resembles the Petronas Twin Towers in Kulau Lumpur - 2 tall buildings side-by-side, with a connecting bridge in the middle. hhaa.

Kappabashi (Ka-pa-ba-shi)

2008-07-18T00:35:00.002+09:00

Hungry?
How would u like a salmon sushi and a tempura prawn for a snack??

Looks delicious?
Sad to say, this is not real. its PLASTIC food models. haha
too bad, cant eat these...
I bought these from Kappabashi St - an amazing street where they sell everything a restaurant will need.

Everything - plastic food displays, cash register, cultery, crockery, signboards, furniture, lights etc etc...
everything but REAL food.

See, even some buildings are designed to a restaurant theme:

Yokohama Bayside Marina

2008-07-17T01:26:00.002+09:00

Bright sunny weekday afternoon... i had nothing to do, so I went to this "not-so well-known" place. Its actually a yatch marina off the edge of yokohama bay. Beside it are some shops selling clothes and many restaurants along the marina:
This place is a great place to have dinner along by the see and watch sunset !!!!
As it was a weekday, there was hardly anyone around
A small lighthouse nearby

Yoyogi Park

2008-07-15T01:23:00.005+09:00

Probably the most happening place in Tokyo on sundays.
On weekends, there's usually some fair, exhibition, flea market being held here... and it will be crowded:

At the other end of the park, there are people having picnic or simply playing/dancing:

Check out this group of bikers dancing

Nearby, there are groups of people/bands putting up performances - hoping to be talent-spotted. Some of them are selling their self-made CDs, mini-concert tickets etc etc. Of course, there naturally will be some good ones and some not-so-good ones:
There are also weird street buskers:

Near to Harajuku exit, that is where all the cos-play people gather:

So many different kinds of costumes: Lolita/Aliens
Anime characters..
"Red-heads"
more comic characters??

Interesting???

haha, "this is why i wanna come to japan"

Cute Ads

2008-07-14T01:06:00.004+09:00

You see advertisements everywhere. On billboards, in trains, buses etc etc.. Here are some uniquie ones. Try to guess what they are advertising.

Guy and gal in the beautiful park.... is this the next upcoming Japanese/Korean drama?
Sexy voluptuous woman: Is she advertising for a porn video or adult magazine??

Here's the answers:

Ad for a university :

Ad for an Onsen :

Mother and Child

2008-07-14T01:02:00.003+09:00

Random photos i took...
In Japan, young teenagers are not the only hot-looking girls around. Check out this hot-looking mother and her child.
Here's a mother pushing a pram which holds FOUR kids in it!!!!

Rent-a-Dog

2008-07-13T00:49:00.007+09:00

This is MiTsu-HiDe (光秀).
I rented him from a dog-rental shop for 1 hour (2500yen). His breed is a ...... ... ermm... errmm... WHO CARES??? what matters most is that he is so CUTE and ADORABLE!!!
He looks just like a stuffed-toy - soft fur, innocent eyes, chubby body....
MiTsu-HiDe is so tame. He never barks or makes any noise. Nevertheless, i had somewhat a hard time walking it around the park - it always seems to want to go to the opposite direction from where i want him to go.
Also, there was communication breakdown between us. I tried to ask him to "sit" and "move" in English, Chinese, Japanese, French etc etc.. but it didnt seem to understand me at all.. hmmm, maybe its deaf...

Here are more cute pictures of MiTsu-HiDe.

It feels so good walking a cute dog in public. You gain so much attention from the people around you. Everyone i walked passed exclaimed "Kawaii !!" (cute) when they saw MY dog!!

In that short 1 hour of rental, i took abt 100 photos and 4 videos of him. Haha, such a camera-whore!

I guess it must have developed camera-phobia after that... Now wonder toward the end of the hour, MiTsu-HiDe was so anxious to return to the dog-rental store! Btw, this dog could navigate the area better than me, i guess it must have been working in that dog-rental shop for quite some time, and have seen dozens of pple just like me. Haha

Dogs

2008-07-13T00:31:00.002+09:00

I guess it would be every dog's dream to be born in Japan. In some other countries, dog meat is a common dish on dinner tables. But in Japan, dogs are regarded as dear pets - one that enjoys so much care and attention just like babies.
Everyday, especially afternoons, you can see people walking their dogs at parks, streets, city are etc. Their dogs are groomed with nice clothes, tidied hair, polished nails etc etc... The owners sure splurge a lot of money in taking care of their dogs. Dog grooming industry is a huge industry in Japan.

Beautiful hair-do:
They even have clothes for dogs of all shapes and sizes.
This dog even has an antena around its neck so that the owner can track its whereabouts. So high-tech.

Kawaguchi-ko + FujiQ Highland

2008-07-10T00:06:00.004+09:00

Kawaguchi-ko (河口湖) is a lake abt 5 km away from Mt Fuji. Peaceful small town with beautiful scenery.

On clear days, you can get a good view of Mt Fuji from here.

Next to it is FujiQ Highland themepark - the place with Japan's most thrilling roller coaster rides.

Here are some links to videos taken DURING the ride:

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=Egy_uL9CS8Q&feature=related

1st-person view. During the ride, the camera is not shaking. Rather, its due to the fact that the roller coaster seat keeps rotating during the ride.

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=wWgRnrtdilY&feature=related

The ride itself is abt 30 sec, but it takes 40 sec before that to climb to the top of the coaster ride.

Here is another roller coaster:
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=tT1tNG98qAM&NR=1

Hakone

2008-07-08T00:21:00.003+09:00

Yet another scenic popular tourist destination within close proximity to Tokyo. Its basically famous for its spectacular views, lakes and onsen.

Here is the main lake. Its too cloudy today to see Mt Fuji on the backdrop.
On the lake, you can see a few ferries used for ferrying pple from one end to another

Me on the ferry. Super windy. As it was a weekday, there was hardly anyone else. I felt like i own the whole boat. haha.

At the other end.

The ropeways bring u up and down some hills. View is quite good.

My OWN ASEAN Festival

2008-07-07T23:54:00.003+09:00

ASEAN Festivals are actually quite common in Tokyo. Every now and then, some University/college/dormitory will hold such an event. And its pretty much the same everywhere... food, performance and interaction.
After going to 2 such festivals, Kim, Yup, Mint and me decided to start our very OWN Asean festival - a small one of course. As there will only be 4 countries taking part: Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. : )
We bought our ingredients and went to Kim's place. Here is what we dished out:

Hainanese chicken rice, Fish head curry, stirred-fried pork in some Thai sauce, braised chicken wings in chinese sauce, and satays.

The soup for the day was bitter-gourd soup with pork slices.

Not too bad... the food taste good.. and we didnt burn down the kitchen. LOL.

ASEAN Festival

2008-07-06T11:42:00.004+09:00

Visited the 3rd ASEAN Festival held at Komba International House. Its a fair where they feature food and performances from various Asean countries (eg, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines... of course, Singapore too!).

Naturally, most pple who visited this event were Aseans themselves.. Its like a big get-together for your fellow countrymen. :)
Here's the Singapore booth: You can see fellow Singaporeans(dressed in the air stewardess' Kebaya costume) selling some food. That green "Uniquely Singapore" banner and the posters are provided by STB(singapore tourism board). At the left hand corner, there's also a cute stuffed-toy of the MERLION(singapore's mascot).

Here are some of our "local food"
MILO Dinosaur, Roti John, Kachang Putih and Green Bean soup.

A group of Malaysians, Thai and Singaporean:
While exchanging contacts, we took out our mobile phones. Guess what, all 6 of us happen to be using SOFTBANK mobile phones. There are 3 main telcos in Japan - Docomo, AU and Softbank. What are the odds of this happening???
Possible reason: SOFTBANK to SOFTBANK phonecalls are FREE during the daytime(depening on your plan).

Good marketing strategy!!

Vending Machines

2008-07-03T23:55:00.003+09:00

In a high-tech place like japan, naturally there will be a lot of vending machines.
Vending machines to sell food coupons in restaurants:
Ice Cream vending machine:

Here are the more unique ones:
Selling cup-noodles:
Cigarettes!!!!
(no wonder u see so many underaged kids around smoking...)

At certain bowling alleys, they even use vending machine to dispense the rented bowling shoes:At some temples:

Incense papers: 1 packet for Y1000, 5 packets for Y5000, or a Large-size packet for Y2000

Jossticks: Y500 for 1-person pack, or Y1000 for 2-pple packet
LOL

BBQ at Futako River

2008-07-02T01:21:00.006+09:00

Bright sunny weekend, and everyone's out to play.
Went to a BBQ at Futako River to celebrate Kim's and Ernesto's birthday!!
12 Noon:
the area is already crowded with BBQ-ers

So many people there already...
Here's our BBQ pit.
2pm:
Took a stroll along the river
Its nice to BBQ by the river... its open, windy, crowded, free-of-charge, and if u feel hot, you can just go take a dip in the river..
See, the river water is not that deep...
4pm:
Here's the cake. cookies and cream.... yum yum... It was literally a Gaigin(外人 Foreigners') Party. Most of the pple there were non-Japanese foreign students from the uni. States, South America, Scandinavia, France, Middle East, Russia, China, HongKong, SE Asia... you name it, there'll someone from there present at the party!
Here are some random photos taken:

Group Photo:

5pm:

Another group of pple near us set up a stereo system to blast music.

Thanks for creating the atmosphere!!!

7pm:

Sky turned dark. Played with fireworks before leaving...

Yokohama

2008-06-29T18:41:00.003+09:00

A big city beside Tokyo. It is the home to Japan's biggest Chinatown. Chinese food, groceries, shops, restaurants aside, this place doesnt really give the feel of chinatown, cos its too clean and orderly. haha

Average price for a 2 hour buffet lunch (食べ放題) here cost abt 2300yen. Not too bad.. its a good place to go if u miss chinese food.

Yamashita Park & Yokohama Bay:

Weird-looking structure found a the park. This park stretches along the coast of the bayThe bildings in the background is Minato Mirai. Can be seen clearly from the park.
A big ship berthed at the bay:
Take a closer look at the metal chain- there's a row of birds (seagulls, i think) resting on it!

But when i went back again a few weeks later in late spring, the birds are gone - guess they are just migratory birds taking a pit-stop here :)
Nice view of Minato Mirai. Picture taken from the roof of the Harbour's Building

Nearby, this ancient-looking building houses 2 floors of shops selling cakes, desserts and pastries. Yum yum...There is a big flower display in the open area... this is what it looks like from the top view. Its actually a world map!
Africa is on the left, America is on the right. The centre is the pacific ocean. Can you see it?

10 mins walk later, i hit upon the themepark and shopping centre of Minato Mirai. This ferris wheel, called CosmoClock 21, is japan's 4th largest ferris wheel.
Views from the top of the ferris wheel.
The bay area can be seen. But due to the clouds, i cant see Mt Fuji

Bowling

2008-06-29T02:13:00.002+09:00

Went bowling abt 3 times since i came. Bowling alleys here are pretty much the same in Singapore, just that its more orderly and cleaner, not to mention more expensive!

Highest score so far in Tokyo(first row)... not really a good bowler.

This particular bowling alley has a special event every nite. Out of nowhere, they dim the lights and light up the lanes for a speical 5 min event: If the next ball in that lane gives a Strike, the lane members win a prize.

This particular bowling alley has this tic-tac-toe game. In any game, if you achieve the requried scores in your scoreboard that matches the printed scores horizontally/vertically/diagonally, you win a prize.

After some time, none of us were aiming to score high. Rather, we were trying to finish the tic-tac-toe game. Indeed, its not easy to achieve scores such as 61, 26, 72 etc etc...

LOL

Btw, this was the prize for completing the tic-tac-toe game: a key chain :)

Random Stuff

2008-06-29T00:52:00.006+09:00

Here is a blog of some random videos i've taken:

Dancing puppets at a toy store:

Mechanic "construction worker" flashing a red danger warning signal:

High-rise Parking Lot:

Part 1: Finding the car

Part 2: Owner drives off

Escalator

2008-06-27T01:00:00.003+09:00

This is one sight u will never see in Singapore: In Japan, people actually keep to one side of the escalator. They even queue up to step onto the escalator...
In most parts of Japan, pple keep to the left:
Only in Osaka, pple keep to the right:
BTW, there is no sign around that says "Pls keep the the left/right of the escalator".
People just do it

Tokyo Dome

2008-06-26T02:31:00.003+09:00

in Japan, Dome = Stadium

Its a huge place, with a DOME, shopping centre and a theme park combined in a cluster.

Night view of the dome (entrance)
And theme park:

More abt CATS

2008-06-25T01:22:00.003+09:00

Today, 4 singaporens from NUS went to watch the musical CATS in tokyo.
Entrance of the theatre:
At the entrance of the hall:
Yup, its the same broadway musical that came to Singapore a couple of years back, but in Japan, all the music lyrics are dubbed in Japanese (the meaning is retained, though)
Take a look at this song "Memory" - the most famous song in this play
Original English version: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=cJHzoAmA8Ec
Japanese version(3min 15sec onwards): http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=PMo62DDyIh8

Another interesting thing we found in the theatre were these toilet signs with cat figures instead of human figures!!!

Kitty

2008-06-23T01:37:00.005+09:00

Another blog abt cats...
Hello Kitty is every... it just gets scary after a while... There are hello kitty souvenir shops everywhere... and even a whole theme park delicated to Kitty.

All sort of souvenirs

Even in Universal studios, u see kitty mascot:

On some trains, this Kitty warning sign tells u to stay away from opening doors. "Dangerous"

Oh no, what did they do to kitty? bondage?

Enoshima

2008-06-21T01:54:00.007+09:00

This small island near tokyo is indeed a nice place to visit.
Its linked to the main island by a bridge..

Nearby, saw some guys taking their motor boat practical test.. haha. berthing, manoeuvring, man-overboard drill... how nostalgic....

Main shopping street on the island.. .lots of food and souvenirs

A few temples(as usual) on the island
Nice landscape garden inside the temple I found this thing in one of the temples:

In order to "sweep away" bad luck, you have to walk through this ring in this manner. First anticlockwise, then clockwise, then anticlockwise agian.. Quite weird- and troublesome - but the small kids found it fun.. They were running around the ring and playing catching games :)

Many pple wrote their wishes on these cardboards. I took a peep, and found out that 80% of them were wishing for a good marriage or a good boyfriend/girlfriend.... hmmm... perhaps this shrine is famous for granting good 姻緣.

There was also a futuristic-looking lighthouse on the island

Scenary was great... you can see the whole bridge and Tokyo from here And it was also freaaakking cold, as the wind was very strong up there.

This is one of the few places in Japan where u can actually see stray cats around. In fact, this island is famous for having many cats...

Even the souvenirs are all cat ornaments This is the ticket booth to buy the ticket to go up the lighthouse. And this cat (i forgot the name) sits here everyday to greet the visitors... so cute.... It enjoys being pet on the head.
The security guard told me that this cat has been here for abt 6 months!!!

KTV

2008-06-20T22:31:00.003+09:00

JApAN- Home of Keraoke !!!
KTV shops are just everywhere!!! and they have quite a good database of songs.. Japanese/english/chinese/....
Been to KTV 6 times since i came... yipes!! thats like almost once per fortnight : )
Gone wif different groups
with Japanese friends -> mostly Jap songs + some english songs
International friends -> only english songs
Singaporeans/Malaysians -> good mix of chinese, english and jap song..

haha. lesson learnt: one must always know how to sing diff language's songs in order to fit in : )

Here are some random photos:

The KTV machines here have interesting functions. For eg, they do give u a score after each song to see how good your singing was.

After each song, they also display the amount of calories burnt while singing that song... hmmm.. didnt realise that frequent visits to KTV can help pple lose weight too :)

FOOD: Part 2

2008-06-18T23:16:00.010+09:00

This is another post about some of the food I have eaten here.... prepare to drool...

B'fest set (only 500 yen), very worth it. Bread, coffee, salad, bacon and egg. The bread is actually made according to one of the bread featured in the anime Yakitate!! Delicious~~!

Snacks/Finger food:

Green tea ice-kachang

The size of the fish on the sushi is abt 3 times the size of the rice!!

Dons/Set meals:

Roppongi

2008-06-17T00:53:00.003+09:00

Area for the rich pple, mainly expatriates. Most embassys are also located within close proximity. This street below is lined with bars and clubs.....
Despite the fact of being the most expensive place in Tokyo, pple still live here in these apartments. A rough check showed that parking is abt S$10 per hour, apartments are abt S$8m, a night's stay at Grand Hyatt Hotel here would cost close to S$400
This spider-looking statue is a landmark at Mori Tower, one of the more famous buildings in that area - filled with offices and (Very very very) expensive restaurants.

Nearby, Asahi TV building has an small exhibition on the first floor.. I guess they should be the company which broadcasts the Doraemon cartoons...

At the end of the road along Roppongi, i found this....

So nostalgic... finally, i found Singapore food!!!
But the prices are not very welcoming.....

Abt S$17 for a plate of chicken rice (that doesnt even look like chicken rice in the photo)????

No thanks... i will wait till i go back.

Kamakura

2008-06-15T02:08:00.002+09:00

Big Buddah Statue (大仏). abt 3-stories high.
Probably the only interesting thing to visit in this town(Kamakura).

RyouKoku

2008-06-12T02:35:00.003+09:00

Went to RyoKoku (両国) area to visit some parks and churches in that area.
This is the Kanto Earthquake (one of the biggest and worst earthquake that happen in Japan) museum. Nothing much, just some description and a lot of "relics" from the earthquake.

Beside it lies the Sumidagawa River, where this famous ferry fetches tourists from Asakusa area to Odaiba area.
The view from the ferry is great, but its rather different if u are walking along the river.
Along the bank of the river, there is a small "drain"-like area separating the river and the land. Its used to prevent flooding during high tides or rainy periods.

This sign says that on dry/non-rainy seasons, the water level in the river is low and will not be able to flood the "drain" with fresh water. No wonder all the plants in that drain are dying(or already dead). Water pumps are installed at regular intervals along the stretch of river, and they are reaching out for kind-hearted pple (like me) to help pump the fresh water in from the river.

Pumping water is sure a tiring job...

Tokyo Drift

2008-06-10T01:29:00.003+09:00

This event happened last weekend at Odaiba area. I stole these youtube from Kim's blog (*thanks Kim*)
The tickets are too expensive anyway, but lucky Kim's dorm is located there and she can get a bird's eye view by just sitting at her corridor!!!!

The videos are taken from her dorm!!!
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=RH0VvS2RAOc &
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZQSf4SsLaE&e
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=WP9xaYZt_f0&e

Enjoy.

FYI, the actual site of the hill(Mt Haruna) used in the filming of the movie "Initial D" is located somewhere to the north of Tokyo. However, due to safety reasons after the release of the show, the authorities put in measures to prevent pple from drifting along those roads.. sob sob...

Komazawa Olympics Park

2008-06-09T15:25:00.004+09:00

Today, a friend brought me to Komazawa Stadium, just a few kilometers west of Shibuya, to watch the some Track and Field Event. Its an annual inter-college/university competition within the schools in Tokyo.

It was raining slightly, and there wasnt much crowd. Rather, everyone was hiding under their umbrellas at some sheltered corner of the stadium. sob sob..

There were so many participants and we couldnt figure out who was from our school, so we just randomly cheered and jeered when every race started.. LOL...

What fascinated me that day was not the race itself, but rather the location. It was a huge public park, with a large number of sports facilities around - soccer field, hockey court, sports halls, indoor swimming pool, stadium etc etc.

But the weird thing was, every building looks somewhat old and yellowish... Japan is so rich.. why dont they just upgrade/rebuild this place??!!!

And right in the centre of everything, there was this weird-looking Tower:

Oh my god!! I just realised that i was standing at ground zero of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics village!!! This tower was where the olympics flame was held then!!

Impressive... considering the fact that all the buildings here are at least 50 years old, they are pretty well maintained and still in usable state :)

Today, 50 years down the road, Tokyo is again bidding to host the Olympics (2016 summer)
You see advertisements like these all over the country:

Their theme is (結ぶ Musubu) which means to tie/bind/link, just like the pic of the knot belowFinal results will be out in late 2009. The other 3 competiting cities who successfully got into the final round are:

Madrid(Spain), Chicago(US) and Rio de Janeiro(Brazil).

Tokyo got the highest points in the last eliminating round among the other candidate cities, of course. (Followed by Madrid, then Chicago)

Lets just hope that the Olpmpic touch goes back to Japan this time round... : )

Lectures

2008-06-07T00:47:00.005+09:00

Lessons in Tokyo Tech are pretty much the same as those in Junior College in Singapore. They have fixed timetables for everyone, (compulsory) PE lesson, common time slot for recess etc.

A typical classroom used for seminar

A teacher bringing his class out of the classroom to observe the structures of buildings.. interesting. Most prob from architecure or civil engineering.

Due to the common lunch break timing, the canteens are always packed during that time. So we usually buy Bento(弁当) and picnic on the open grassfield. Summer is coming.. nice weather

Here are some video clips i secretly took during class:

Module title: Operations Management

Module title: Distribution Channels

Tokyo Tower

2008-06-03T22:28:00.002+09:00

Some pple call it the "Fake Eiffel Tower", cos the shape is rather similar.
Tokyo Tower is located rite in the middle of the city - good landmark for the surrounding area.

View from the bottom:

From the top, you can see the whole Tokyo lighted up.

Up at the observation deck, there's also a cute DJ playing music and reading the song dedications to entertain the crowd.

SAILING in Japan !!!

2008-06-01T03:00:00.002+09:00

(Disclaimer: I apologize if there is some sailing terms/jargon used in this blog)

I went for a sailing session with my uni’s yachting club. The location was a small place called ShinZushi(新逗子), which is known to be one of the more popular sea sports location within close proximity to Tokyo. There were abt 50 pple in total – 30 newbies and 15 seniors. After changing trains 3 times from school, we finally reached the marnia. Indeed, it was a splendid place for sailing – nice beach, open waters, gentle waves….
In Singapore, I sailed a LASER, which feels kinda different from the SNIPE I used today. Although the rigging, sheets and knots were the same, the Laser is smaller, and thus more responsive when tacking/jybing. It’s a pity that the wind was not blowing consistently, and we were stranded a few times.. sob sob. We ended up floating around in circles and wasting time.
(Interesting fact to note: I had no problem communicating with them while sailing cos all the sailing terms were exactly the same as English. Mainsheet = Me-n-shi-i-to. Tack = te-ku. Jybe=Jya-bu. Its basically the same thing, but just pronounced in a Japanese way.)
The cool sea breeze and the magnificent view of the seaside was quite a splendid and memorable experience for those people sailing for the first time.

After sailing, we were brought to the other end of the beach, where clusters of beach houses were located. We entered TITECH sailing club’s beach clubhouse, and were treated to a curry rice lunch prepared by them. It was good! The beach house may have been slighted squeezy with all 50 of us in it, but the atmosphere was friendly. We chatted and took turns to do some self-introduction – and yup, I was the only foreign exchange student there. Haha. The rest were all normal first-year undergrads.
It was past 5pm when the whole event ended. Great experience.. enjoyed it very much J

(Jap version: Sorry if there’s any grammar or vocab mistake)

今日、大学ヨット部の試乗会に参加した。場所は新逗子って、東京市に近くて海スポーツできるビーチと言えば、ここはとても有名　と先輩に教えられた。新入生３０人、先輩１５人と私の計５０人は大学で集合し、電車とバスに三回乗り換えたら、やっと着いた。やはり、灘やビーチがあり、この所では、波が低いのでセイリングするのに最も適した場所ね！

SNIPEは私がいつもシンガポールで使うLASERと一味違う気持ちだ。もっと大きい型のせいで、割とまどろっこしい。残念ながら、風があまり吹いていないので、ヨットは全然速く動かなかった時もあった（涙）。ただ此処彼処でぶらぶらして堂々巡りばかりそのものだ！だけど、海風が涼しいと、海岸景色も見事、初めてセイリングする人々にとっては、本当に魅力的、すばらしい気持ちだ。

そして、僕たちがビーチの他方に連れられた。そこは、ビーチハウスで一面に広がり、至る所だ。東工大ヨット部の部屋に一緒に先輩が作ったカレーライス（う～、うまいよ！）を食べながら、おしゃべり。ちっちゃい部屋に５０人も集まるのはかなりいっぱいのに、皆さんは優しいで自己紹介すると親しい雰囲気である。ちなみに、全員で交流生が俺だけ、他の参加者は全て学部一年生だ。
活動が終わって帰宅したのは、５時過ぎ。日本でセイリング経験をよく楽しみましたJ

Me at the marina:

Sailing area:

Too bad i cant get a photo of myself sailing... you cant bring a camera out to sea...

Yasukuni Shrine

2008-05-29T23:28:00.005+09:00

Yasukuni Shrine - A controversal and political place.
Everytime when some Japanese political figures, such as Prime Minister Koizumi, visit this place, China will make noise.
This shrine was actually built more than 130 years ago, in the hope that Japan would "be at peace for eternity". Over the years, this shrine evolved and also worships several war heros - even those involved in the numerous wars against China in the past.
Therefore, visiting this shrine indirectly means that you are worshipping these war heros, and thus the Sino-Japanese relations are at stake.

Even the guard dogs and the war horses are honoured...

Here are some interesting quotes i got from their museum:

Here, they use the term "Nanking Incident" instead of "Rape of Nanking"

"General Matsui Iwane distributed maps to his men with foreign settlements and the safety zones marked in red ink. Matsui told them that they were to maintain strict military discipline and that anyone commiting unlawful acts would be severly punished. The defeated chinese rushed to XinGuan and they were completely distroyed. The chinese soldiers disguised in civilian's clothing were severly prosecuted....."

Similarly, "Sino-Japanese War" is called "China Incident" because "there was no formal declaration of war"

"...The Japanese government abandoned its efforts to prevent incidents from escalating...."

Last but not least:

"The desire of independence has been kindered by the japanese after the jap govt surrounded Nanking in Dec 1937."

haha, just read between the lines..

u will realise that its somewhat different from what we read from our History textbooks

DisneyLand and DisneySea

2008-05-26T23:55:00.008+09:00

Ambitious as it sounds, I visited BOTH DisneySEA and DisneyLAND on the same day!!!!!
It was possible as it was a weekday - not much crowd around, except for a few schools at DisneyLand. At DisneySea, there was hardly any queue for all the rides, so i managed to sweep thru the whole park within a matter of 3 hours.

DisneySEA:
The landmark of DisneySEA is perhaps the fake volcano mountain u see in the background. There is a roller coaster ride in it. At nite, there will be (fake) smoke coming out from the peak.

The big tower u see in the background is the "Tower of Terror", one of the more famous rides in DinseySea.

Roller coaster within an "ancient burial ground"
There are many nice structures/buildings around and they all revolve the theme of "castle", "ancient tomb", "harbour" etc etc.

This nice building is Aladdin Palace

All in all, I feel that most of the rides in SEA are catered for children. There are not as adventurous as those found in Universal Studios. Of course, there are some good rides here and there.

My recommendations:

1) Journey to the Centre of the Earth (the roller coaster in the fake mountain). Its a good ride..it brings u in and out of the volcano, with some drops and spins along the way. Good decoration and props too.

2) Tower of Terror: Its a bit the ... ermm... I'm not sure how to describe it. Some pple may find it stupid.

Seriously NOT recommended(excluding all the kiddy rides):

1) Raging Spirits (Roller coaster): Its small, its pathertic, and the 360 degree turn is barely 2 stories high. Even toddlers arent scared to take this ride

2) Aladdin 3-D show: My friend and i both fell asleep 5 min into the show. The attendent had to wake us up when the show ended to ask us to leave the theater. Blahh.

DisneyLAND;

Perhaps the more HAPPENING place out of the 2.

Day and night view of the famous Disney Castle.

Here, there are more cartoon characters to take photos with. Its as though returning back to your childhood where those nostalgic characters like Mickey, Donald, Goofy come to life again.

The queues here in DisneyLand are significantly longer than that in SEA. You even have to queue up to take photos with those cartoon characters!

As usual, nice colourful buildings with tonnes of rides. (including a significant number of rides catered to adults).
There's also a fake island, fake forest, fake animals etc etc all around the place.

Their night street parade is impressive, quite similar to the "chingay" parade we see in Singapore.

There are many good rides here:

My Recommendations:

1) Space mountain(an indoor roller coaster)- It is pitch-black inside, except for some light here and there, which simulates outer space. U cannot see where you are going! And the ride is very fast...

2) Haunted Mansion: Very relaxing ride. Beautifully decorated haunted mansion, with laser lighting efffects to simulate spirits.

3) Splash mountain(roller coaster that splashes into the water): One of the better-decorated ones compared to other theme parks, and this ride actually last for abt 7 min long.

Kyoto

2008-05-22T01:38:00.010+09:00

Famous for its numerous shrines and temples.

Perhaps this Golden Temple (金閣寺） is by far the most famous one around. I'm not sure if the whole thing is made up of real gold? Or is it just gold-plated? The building was out-of-bounds.. haha. Perhaps they are scared that the visitors will go in, scrape some gold out and take it home as souvenir.

Next on the itinerary was Ten-Ryu Temple (天龍寺） (in chinese: 天龙寺 tian1 long2 si4)

Its a Zen temple. There are no specific buddah statues to pray to, just a big open shelter for pple to sit down and meditate. There a nice garden and lots of bamboo trees behind the building.

Pond/lake in between the budiling and the forest.. quite scenic
Bamboo trees in the back.

The last temple i visited was Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺）　(In chinese: 清水寺)
This temple is built on the top of a small hill. Quite a number of temples here are listed under their "national heritage list" due to their history or architecture. This one is definitely no exception.

It has spring water from the mountain top for pple to wash their hands before entering the temple

Many pple come here to pray for marriage (縁結び). I found this cute game at one corner of the temple.

The 2 stones are abt 20 metres apart and there were some girls queueing to try it out. sad to say, most of the pple who tried it did not manage to reach the other stone. :(

That nite, we visited the city area.

Busy traffic junction in the middle of the city:A famous shopping street there:

GION:
Yet another must-go place on the tourists' itinerary. It is a street lined with traditional shophouses (now converted to upmarket restaurants). Along the way, you may spot Geishas!!!

And yup, we did see 2 that night. :)

FOOD:

Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe) area's famous dish: Okono Miyaki
There were many so variations there, each with different ingredients...
I forgot which was which.. but it all tasted great.
The one in the middle, with yaki-soba as the base is the Hiroshima version of Okono Miyaki

Kobe

2008-05-22T01:27:00.004+09:00

After Osaka, we took a short detour to Kobe - yet another small city 30km away.

Just like most other cities, the most crowded area was the few streets around the main train station.

Kobe is famous for KOBE BEEF. But when we went there, we found out that the cost for a set meal for the top-grade Kobe Beef cost abt 5000yen! (abt $70). That was way out of our budget.. so we went to a smaller restaurant nearby and settled for some cheaper beef. haha.

Although cheap, it still taste good. That pretty much satisfies our desire to taste "kobe beef". :)

Kobe is also the home to one of the 3 famous night views in Japan - Mt Rokko.

(Last month, I've been to the one in Nagasaki - Mt Inasa. The last on is Mt Hakodate in Hokkaido)
As usual, there is a nice cable car to bring us all the way to the peak.

Beautiful night view.. u can see the whole of Kobe, the nearby airports, and Osaka city afar.

Night view from the top

This was taken at the base's cable car station. Its supposed to be "Rokko Cable Shita" (shita = bottom/under/below in japanese). Oops.. my camera shaked and i didnt get a good shot. haha

Osaka

2008-05-21T02:07:00.010+09:00

Unlike NUS, Tokyo Tech does not have a one-week mid-sem break in the middle of the term. So in order to travel, I had no other choice but to give myself a few days off. haha. :o

First stop: OSAKA
Universal Studios Japan.(USJ)
It is reported that Singapore is going to build their own Universal Studios within the Integrated Casino in Sentosa. But judging the puny little land area of Sentosa, i am rather skeptical abt how good it will be.
Just take a look at the main entrance of USJ.

This is the trademark of Uinversal Studios - A big globe at the entrance
Of course, there are all the childhood cartoon characters - Elmo, Ernee(Sesame Street), Popeye, Betty Boop, and of course, HELLO KITTY

A group of Elmo-fan club kids taking pics with Elmo... Of course, not to mention, Japan's tradmark - HELLO KITTY

The best ride in the park was probably the Spider-man ride - it sure is worth the 80min queueing time. Its basically an indoor cart ride, controlled by the computer. You are given 3-D glasses to view the 3D effects(spiderman jumps onto your car every now and then, and the vibration/movement of the cart emulates the scenario of your cart being thrown around). Along the way, were fire/hot air/water/wind to make the whole experience(story) more surreal.

My conclusion:
Recommended rides: Spiderman(prob the best theme park ride i ever took), E.T. & Terminator 2 3-D movie
Not recommended: Their mass display performance

NEXT STOP: OSAKA AQUARIUM + Ferris Wheel
Along Osaka Bay, just opposite USJ, lies the Aquarium and a Ferris wheel.

View from the inside: you can see the whole Osaka Bay area, and Osaka city in the further end.
Here is what Osaka Bay looks like from the ground level..... cant see much

The aquarium from the outside:

This is the main attraction of the aquarium: a big big big whale. Biggest in Japan i think, and its vegetarian.
You can see it surrounded by small fishes in the backgound.
In my opinion, this aquarium, known as "one of the best in japan", is over-hyped. Basically, the whole building consists of a huge tank(as seen in the pic). There werent any good performances, shows etc to entertain the crowd... what a waste of money....

Next STOP: UMEDA Sky Building
Famous for its unique(aka weird) architecture
View from far:

View from the bottom:

That nite, we went to the busy city area of DoTonBuRi in Namba... Pretty exciting and busy... feels as if u were in Tokyo...

My LAB

2008-05-12T23:11:00.001+09:00

Some of you may wonder what exactly am I doing in Japan. I am here under the Young Scientist Exchange Program(YSEP) organized by Tokyo Institute of Technology(TITECH). There are abt 30 students in this program, from a dozen different countries. We are all here as research students and are each supposed to do a Sotsuron卒論 (Jap version of Final Year Research Project)

Coincidently, the only 3 Singaporeans in TITECH happen to be in the program. Me, Julian and MinRui, all from NUS's Student Exchange Program(SEP). Julian and MinRui are my senior(Year 4 computing. I'm year 3 engineering), and guess what... Julian is from Chinese High as well, same as me! All 3 of us started learning Japanese during Secondary 1 at MOE Language Centre.

The university system in Japan works quite differently from that in Singapore(NUS). In Singapore, during your final year of uni, you do a Final Year Project(FYP) under a professor. If you are a Masters or PHD student, you do a research project - similar to FYP - but u are allocated to a desk in a room together with many other Masters or PHD students. In short, you may end up sitting beside a stranger who is doing a different subj project and attached to a different Prof. For bachelor students, u rarely get a desk for yourself.

In TITECH, every Professor has his own LAB. In my case, since my prof's name is MURAKI (村木), so the lab is named after him - MURAKI LAB. In the lab, there are abt 12 students, varying from PHD, Masters, Research Students(like me) and Final year Bachelor undergrads. Its a good mix, especially for those year 4 undergrads, they GET THEIR OWN WORKSPACE and get a chance to interact with the PHD and Masters students which they would otherwise have not known. All of us are attached to the same prof, and since the prof's specialization is Business Process Engineering, all our project are related to this topic. In short, before you get assigned to a lab, you choose the project topic(of your interest) you want to do, and that topic will eventually lead u to a particular professor.

Pic of my lab. Each student has his own desk, shelf and computer. The lab has colour printer, scanner etc etc. Well-equipped.

This is my workspace..

Each lab functions like a family, with the prof being the head of the "family". The more senior students are supposed to help/guide the juniors in their projects. (Since we all specialize in the same topic, there shouldnt be much of a problem doing so)

Similarly, the lab is like our "home". People eat, sleep, study, play, talk cock, slack... etc etc in the lab. Other things that can be found in labs are refrigerator, microwave oven, sofa, stacks of magazines and comic books, TV etc etc, just like a home.

Here are my labmates in MURAKI-Lab

Pic taken during our Welcome Party(歓迎会 KanGeiKai). Its a feast the lab holds every sem to welcome new students into the lab. Clockwise from me: Kenny(me), Koide(B4), Oonuma(M2), Gotou(M2), Sano(M2), Kanetaka(M2), Hirai(B4), Matsuoka(Asst. Prof), Muraki(Prof) and Niwa(B4). Not in pic: Nishi(B4).

B4= Bachelors degree 4th year,

M2= Masters Degree 2nd year

I was originally allocated to another lab, but came to this lab cos the original Prof went on a long term MC. Here are the labmates from that lab

Satou, me and Tetsurou. Tetsurou is my assigned mentor. I like his cool hairstyle, do u?

This is Kenji wearing a cool hat.

Mt Mitake

2008-05-11T11:16:00.004+09:00

Climbed another mountain today. This one is called Mt Mitake, slightly further and slighter higher than the previous one. (abt 1200m i guess)

The route up the mountain is well pathed.. with concrete pavement most of the way. Quite easy to climb

JD, ZH and me in front of a shrine near the submit of the mountain.

Us taking a break along the way... quite tiring...

Along the way, there was this small shop selling this traditional sticky candy. (麦芽糖）. Its basically a confectionary made of sugar and starch.. but it feels nostalgic since this sweet is a vanishing trade in singapore...

Finally, at the top....

Beautiful scenery... quite a few other pple were having picnic there.
Going up is difficult, coming down is equally hard.

A nice waterfall along the way...

Some of the more unique flowers i spotted along the way....

Kodomo no Hi : Children's Day

2008-05-08T00:51:00.002+09:00

During Kodomo No Hi (Children's Day), families raise colorful carp-shaped "Koinobori" flags, one for each member of the family. The largest and uppermost flag represents the father, followed by the mother, and small carp to represent children.

Children's Day is a Japanese national holiday which takes place annually on May 5, the fifth day of the fifth month, during the Golden Week period. It is a day set aside to respect children's personalities and to celebrate their happiness. To expel evil spirits and celebrate the future of their sons, families hoist koinobori (cloth carp streamers) from balconies and flagpoles.

Kintarou (金太郎) is the childhood name of a hero of the Heian period, famous for his strength as a child. It is said that Kintarou mounted on a bear, instead of a horse, and played with animals in the mountain when he was a young boy.Some children may also take shyobuyu (a bath with floating iris leaves), and eat kashiwa-mochi (a rice cake wrapped in an oak leaf ) and chimaki (a dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves). Carp, samurai, irises, oak trees, and bamboos all symbolize strength.

Tsukiji Fish Market

2008-05-05T00:41:00.007+09:00

Today i went to Tsukiji Fish market, known to be one of the largest fish markets in Asia. I reached there about 1pm, but as you can see in the picture below, there wasnt much going on then.

As you know, those fish mongers usually do their business early in the morning. Their fish trading usually end by 10am - which is way too early for me to reach there by then (i hate waking up early...:)
So, below are some photos which i found on the internet.. its pics of the "action" that takes place every morning there.... haha....

wow... seems very happening....

Instead of waking up at 7am and making my way there to see the actual action, i guess the vicarious thrills from these pics is enough for me

Beside there, there was a place called "Tsukiji Outer market" which was opened the whole day. There were smaller fishmonger shops and restaurants there.

Some life seafood being sold at stalls....

I found a long queue of pple in one of the streets..

Upon looking closer, i understood why... There wyere selling Fish-Dons for only 900yen!! Its freaking cheap!!!
So, i immediately joined the queue. After a 30min wait, i was treated to this Salmon and "fish-egg" Don prepared by the chef.

Delicious!!! The orange fish-eggs in the middle were so fresh!!

Mt Takao

2008-05-03T01:29:00.005+09:00

Not too far west of Tokyo city centre lies this 599m tall mountain. Its famous for its greenery and is a popular hiker's destination.

I reached there in the early afternoon and started my leisure hike up. Along the way, i stopped for a 300 yen Dango to top up my carbo. Yummy

There were many interesting sights along the way, such as this weird-looking root of a tree

and this wooden suspending bridge

Here are some of the more unique floral i found along the way...

There were a few temples/shrines near the submit of the mountain. One of them had this weird-looking statues stationed at the entrance of the temple.
Finally, after reaching the summit...

The view is great. you can even see tokyo city from afar.

The route down was equally fun. I chose the most "nature" route to decend from the top. In this route, there were no concrete pathment, but only narrow mudpaths, rock steps,

and look!!! At this portion of the trail, there was only a small stream of water.. you are supposed to step on the rocks and walk along(on) the stream!
As it rained the previous day.. the mudpath was errmmm... really really muddy. My shoes were smeared with mud by the end of the day.. but i guess it was worth it.
A small waterfall that i passed by along the way down....

How to clean windows

2008-04-29T22:41:00.004+09:00

Check out this cleaner cleaning the windows of an office building...

Quite dangerous, i think...

Asakusa

2008-04-28T00:37:00.006+09:00

This temple called "Sen-so Ji" located in Asakusa is perhaps the most famous tourist attraction in Tokyo. You must have seen the picture of this building before somewhere in some guidebook/itinerary/travel shows.

The path leading to the entrance is packed with tourist and stalls selling souvenirs for toruists.

Of course, there are snacks around, such as this cute pagoda-shaped muffin

This is another familiar pic of the big lantern at the entrance of the temple. It is often seen in postcards.

This is what it actually looks like from behind.... there are so many works printed behind. They are names.. but i have no idea whose they were and what relevence they had. haha

The most interesting part of the temple was perhaps this "lottery". Its called "Mi Ku Ji".

Out of the hundred plus sticks in the bottle, u shake it to randomly get a number. I got number "50". Then from the array of drawers, you open the drawer that corresponds to your number and take a sheet of paper that tells your fate.

Here is my sheet:

It is an "average" luck sheet, saying neutral things like, "will get well soon", "employment good", "safe" etc etc... You can magnify the pic above to read the details.

Out of curiosity, I looked through some other drawers. There were only 3 kinds of readings - Good, average and bad. About half of the drawers were AVERAGE readings. and a quarter each for GOOD and BAD readings.

This suay (unlucky) guy below got a BAD fortune, haha.

So he has to tie the fortune paper to this string in order to neurtralize the bad luck.

Ebisu

2008-04-24T00:52:00.005+09:00

Today MR and I visited Ebisu (yebisu) area, along the Yamanote line. Its famous for a beer garden. And yup, as expected, there were many nice trees and flowers planted all around.

This green arch roof is a famous landmark for this area.
We went on to visit the Ebisu Beer Museum

Lots of cute and informative displays inside, such as the beer brewing process, history of the company etc etc....

This is a huge machine(forgot the exact name) used in the beer making process.

There were many nice beer can displays to take photo with too!

Here are some advertisements used in the 1950s till 1970s. There was a period where they used only female model to promote the beer, but they later changed to male models in those posters.

Surprisingly, even today, some of these traditional-looking pictures are still used - to protray its history maybe. Somehow or another, i feel its kinda anachronistic. haha.

Last but not least, there was a bar near the exit where we could purchase small glasses of their 4 most famous beers. There are 100%draft beer, malt beer, stout etc etc.

Homestay at Tochigi (Kanuma)

2008-04-21T01:28:00.011+09:00

I signed up for a 2-day homestay in Tochigi(3 hours north from Tokyo by bus). There were 20 foreign students, each attached to a Japanese host family staying in that area.

A group shot at the start. Its not hard to differ the foreign student and who the local Japanese are.
It started off first with a BBQ lunch in the park - our first meeting point. The meal was sumptuous

We took some nice group photos by the river at the park.. and wandered till its time to leave the area.
Meet my host, Yoko san, who is a housewife, part-time boss of her family business and a mother of 2(they are abt 30 years old, all working in Tokyo).
Our first stop was to her friend's daughter's(they are the host family for Julian) house in Kanuma(a smaller town in Tochigi area)
Clockwise- 2 children, mother(Julian's host), mother-in-law, grandmother(Yoko's friend), MinRui(from Singapore), Julian(from France), me and Yoko(my host).
They served us tonnes of cakes, confectionery and coffee.

MinRui and I then left the house with Yoko and her friend, leaving Julian with his host family.
The next stop was MinRui's host's PLACE - Aoyagi san is the old man in the centre.
Coffee and traditional confectionery/cakes were served.

You realised that i used the word "PLACE" instead of "HOUSE"?
This is because his house/factory/warehouse was more of a VILLA than a normal house.

This building behind us looks like a shrine from far.
NO!! it is actually the main building of his house!!!

Of course, there is a river, garden, stream, mini golf course around it.

Not to mention, nice plants and trees such as this red-leaf (紅葉）-looking tree.

As a hobby, he collects vintage cars. Lucky me, i got a joyride on it from his son. This model is a 1939 Lagonda V12 Le Mans, with 300 horsepower and an engine capacity of 3700CC. After the ride, my hair was messed up by the wind - it was really powerful.
Other cars in his garage include a red Ferrari, and an AlfaRomeo. But personally, he prefers to drive this car around.

Although their core business is carpentry, their sideline(and hobby) is pottery. Tucked somewhere at a corner of his warehouse lies a furnace, where they make various vases and wine glasses.On the second floor, there was a mini exhibition hall.
According to Yoko, some of these displays are rare antiques and worth up to a million Yen. OUCH!

Dinner was at his place too. It was a big BBQ stove made of solid wood and rock.
Apart from the usual rice, sushi, oden, SAKE, yaki-soba, meat, bread etc etc, Aoyagi san also treated to a giant flower crab be bought recently.

Check out the size of that small portion of the crab's leg. I was already bloated when i finished the first piece of meat!!

After dinner, I left with Yoko san for her place - the last stop for the day.

She lives in a 2-story bungalow, traditionally decorated, with a small garden around it.
That night, i slept on a mattress on the tatami mat in her house. (thats what homestay is about right?)

We woke up early the next morning for breakfast
Then we set of for this town's annual event - The Woody Park Kanuma Stage

Woody Park Kanuma Stage

It is a kind of car race, but only for VINTAGE CARS. In my opinion, its more like a mass display of vintage cars as they drive around town.

We arrived at the starting location early to view the car exhibition. Aoyagi san is one of the race officials. His son and friends are taking part in the race.

There were abt 155 vintage cars in total. I took photos of most of them, but its just too many to post online. If you are into cars, you can check out the models on http://www.kanumastage.com/2008park/member.html

Basically, the more common vintage cars seen that day were Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, Bentley, MG, Austin, AlfaRomeo and Mercedes.

Check out the driver in the red cap. Does he look familiar? He is actually a Japanese sitcom comedian/host.

This is the cutest car i saw that day - only 3 wheels!!

This car on display(above) is supposed to have one of the longest historical value - it is a 1936 Rolls-Royce Sports Saloon(Hooper)

This Bentley is my favourite.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the race, there were only a few hours left. We visited random places in the town such as a stone-carved buddha and the cultural activities centre(to see some Yatais-wooden carts used in festivals)This Tsubaki (椿） is Yoko san's favourite flower. It can be seen along the road in most places. Comes in 2 colours - red and pink - its a beautiful flower.

This picture below was taken near Aoyagi san's house. In this small town of Kanuma, the scenery is breathtaking, the air is fresh and the flowers are beautiful. Most of the land is occupied by farm, and there are no buildings higher than 2 stories. With no buses and taxis around, there naturally werent any tourist around besides the closely-knit friendly local community. The air is fresh and entirely different from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo city.

This 2-day homestay at this small town was defintely an eye-opening and memorable experience.

Disaster Prevention Centre

2008-04-21T00:45:00.004+09:00

Today i went to an interesting place called HonJyou BoSaiKan - translated to english means "Disaster Prevention Centre".

Its is a one-of-a-kind museum/science centre where they teach you how to tackle emergency situations, such as fire, earthquate, typhoon etc.

There were life simulations of the various disasters. For instance, for the typhoon simulation, they make you wear raincoats and stand in an enclosed room. Thereafter, they turn on the strong wind and rain simulation in the room to let u have a feel of how strong a typhoon can be. Of course, they also teach you how to protect yourself by keeping your body low and heading against the wind.

In the smoke-room simulation, you are supposed to keep low, cover your mouth(to reduce intake of smoke) and look for the nearest exit by touching the walls.

But... here we are, playing in the smoke room, and taking photos. haha

Tutorials to teach you how to use the fire extinguisher and do CPR...

They even have a life TV simulation to guide you to call the emergency police/ambulence hotline!!

This was the most fun simulation: After having watched a 4D show on earthquake disaster, we were brought to this simulation where they actually put you in a "room" and shake it at an intensity of abt 6-7 on the Richter Scale.

Tokyo International Forum

2008-04-17T20:28:00.011+09:00

This picture was taken last year at the Tokyo Motor show. I found it on the internet:

For some reason, the number of ushers outnumber the number of visitors by abt 10 times!

Today, I went to check out the situation at Tokyo International Forum (one of their main exhibition halls)

It was an elegent building with beautiful architecture. Half of the ceiling and walls are made of glass, thus making full use of the sunlight to illuminate the whole area. Very eco-friendly!! :)

Yup, as expected, the number of ushers did outnumber the number of visitors, by abt 3 times. Everywhere i walked/turned, an usher or security guard will be standing there greeting me.
Instead of the normal barricades/strings used to guide visitors along the exhibition's walking path, this exhibition's path was neatly laid out by ushers standing along both aisles. LOL

The exhibition on today was "New Product Review"

I went in with a very inquisitive mind about what kind of "new" products Tokyo has recently invented? Televisons? Applicancs? Robots? Space craft? or even the latest science breakthrough??

In the end..
guess what??

70% of the displays and exhibitions were about TOILET BOWLS!!! (the remaining 30% were kitchen appliances such as sink, bathtub, shower etc)

TOILET BOWLS??!!
Doesn't Japan already have enough variety of toilet bowls?

Most toilet bowls in public toilets are equipt with the "spraying device" (as i call it).
I think the most important function of this device is to warm the toilet bowl seat so that the user can seat comfortably during winter(extremely cold) days.

This is a pic of the standard menu on that "spraying device". Basic functions include, spray, stop, deodorizer and water jet intensity functions.

This pic below shows the most sophicated device I have seen since I arrived in Japan.

Can you even count how many functions/buttons there are??

From left to right: "Stop" button. "water jet spray" button(for the rear). "Bidet" button. "Dry air" button. "Water intensity" knob. Seat sensor. "Clean nozzle" button. "start/pause" button. 2 knobs for "water temperature"(rear and bidet respectively). And lastly, a knob for "Dry air intensity"
WOW... this is really sophisticated...

This is another unique thing i found in a toilet.

The top button is the FLUSH button, whereas the bottom button is for the devices to play (audio) 20 seconds for flushing sound - NOTE: NOT real flushing/water. Its just for discretion purpose.

I recorded down the 20 seconds of "flushing" sound.

Enjoy...

In you opinion, does it sound like the real thing???

GINZA

2008-04-15T21:09:00.005+09:00

This is a pic of Tokyo which you usually see on postcards. The place is called "Ginza" - one of the higher-end shopping districts in Tokyo.

The neon lights from billboards and buildings light up the place at night

On weekdays, they block off the whole stretch of road for pedestrians.

As recommended by Lonely Planet Guidebook, I went to look for the SONY showroom located there

Its a 4 story building. The first 3 floors featured their newest gadgets - PDA, handphones, mp3 players, speakers, laptops etc etc. Its quite impressive, as most of these models have not reached Singapore(my country) yet.

At least now I get a sneak preview of what will be coming to Singapore in a few months' time.

Check out this newest toy by SONY - Rolly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTxdKi77G20

Its a cool mp3 player/speaker that actually dances to the music!!

Campus

2008-04-13T22:15:00.006+09:00

LOOK !!!
why is everyone wearing BLACK?

Is it a funeral going on??

NOPE,

its just the freshmen inaguration ceremony of Tokyo Institute of Technology.

There is something that keeps on puzzling me: Why do Japanese always like to wear BLACK? Ceremonies(happy or sad), to work, functions etc.. everyone just wears BLACK!

Cant they just wear some other brighter colours such as brown, blue, beige etc etc?? BLACK looks so solemn and formal.

Today is the day where the freshmen officially get inaugurated - yup, every single one of them wore BLACK suit and pants. No exception. They were accompanied by their parents, whom mostly wore BLACK too... sigh...

These parents look so happy and excited today as they accompanied their child to school.... apparently, this university happens to be one of the hardest university to get into in Japan. :) Making it into this university is sth quite "honorable"

This ceremony was not meant for exchange/foreign students like me, but for the normal local Japanese undergrads. I tried to crash the event, but my clothes immediately gave me away.. sob sob.

Anyway, with nothing to do, I toured the campus. There are nice sakura trees all around, and many outsiders come in to picnic under the trees

These pics are not pictures of public parks; they are taken in the school campus. Its a beautiful place with many open spaces for people to play/stroll/picnic..

At the other corner, CCA booths were set up to recruit students into their clubs and societies.

Shibuya

2008-04-13T00:51:00.003+09:00

The nearest city area from my dorm/school is Shibuya. Naturally, this became the place i visit most often whenever i get to town.

It is also one of the busiest areas in Tokyo, with shopping centres along every road.

Day and Night view of the area.

Me and Emre(from Turkey)

A 10 story high TV screen on a building along a major junction.

This is the picture of the famous Shibuya Hachiko exit cross junction. Like any other cross junction, when the traffic light green man comes on, pedestrians can cross in all directions.
Before the crossing:
Green Man signal just came on:
10 seconds in to the crossing
20 seconds into the crossing:

How many hundred people are there on the road??
No wonder it is cited to be the world's busiest junction.

Heres a video taken from YouTube. The best place catch the action is from a Starbucks cafe on the 2nd floor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUBK78yNJ80

UENO (Pronnounced as "ooh-air-noo")

2008-04-13T00:22:00.005+09:00

Its cherry blossom period

UENO - with almost a thousand sakura trees - is undoubtedly ground zero for this festival!

The main street of the park is packed with visitors. Along the sides, groundsheets are laid and the public can book them for their private events/gatherings

People singing/dancing/playing games while picnicing. All sort of food can be seen, from bento sets to liquor... If you get drunk, simple, just lie back on the mat and admire the sakura petals as they fall down.

The petals fall whenever the wind blows. Its a beautiful sight to see the falling petals, but i guess it is also a headache for the roadsweeper.

Nearby, many stalls are set up to cater to the hungry crowd.

This is a basket of dogs. SO CUTE!!!

The owner said they were playful, so he put them in a basket to prevent them from running about.

Nearby the park, at UENO area, theres a place called Ameyoko. It is just a street market that sells all sort of stuff.

FOOD

2008-04-12T00:15:00.007+09:00

Sightseeing and scenery aside, here's a quick update on some of the food i've been eating recently.

Every convenient has arrays of microwavable instant food ready for busy people to grab-and-go.
In normal restaurants,

a plastic model of the food is usually displayed at the entrance of the restaurant.

In some more economical eateries, i order to save money on hiring a waitress, they use a coupon vending machine instead.

You have to insert your money, buy the coupon for the selected dish you want to order, and then hand this coupon over to the counter/chef.

Different variations of RAMEN

The ramens here generally taste better than those back home. Most importantly, they do not usually add MSG to their soup(but it still tastes so good) so you wont feel thirsty after the meal.

Gyu Don (Beef with Rice) from Yoshiniya! The most budget dish around. Only Y380 (S$5+). Comparable to prices in singapore!

Here are UDONs:

And the normal DONs.. (Rice with meat)

There are also set meals with both rice and noodle. A good choice when you are very hungry.

Last day in Kyushu

2008-04-10T02:42:00.002+09:00

Today is the last day in Kyushu before I head back to Tokyo (and TL to Kyoto).

We dropped by the famous Yatai("Street Stalls") area and tried another of their local specialty - 豚骨Ramen (TonKoTsu Ramen = Ramen in Pork Rib soup)

The soup taste was slightly different from the normal Ramens. Cant think of a word to describe the taste... will update this blog when i eventually do...

Today, the news also reported that Sakura was in full bloom.

This photo was taken at a small park that we passed by

This is what sakura flowers actually look like

An even more close-up shot

More of Beppu

2008-04-10T02:20:00.011+09:00

Beppu, and Kyushu in general, knows how to make good use of their natural resourse - natural spring water.
Here and there, you will be able to see small wells/taps where they pump out hot natural spring water. This "water-dispenser" along the roadside offers passerbys a taste of the spring water.

This one below lets you wash your hand and feet in the spring water.

My next stop was the Beppu's Umitamago("Sea EGG") Aquarium, located just along the scenic coastal bay.
As usual, many many fish can be seen in the glass displays
This pic below depicts a very ugly looking worm which hides most of its body in the sand.
This tank consists of hundreds of slim-sized fish. When put together, it looks spectacular.

In the jelly-fish tank(jelly-fish are transparent creatures), they played around with different lightings to give these fishes a different look

Red, green and purple.... and many other colours...

Of course, they also had a dolphin show
Seal show....And they even played games with the fishes.

This is how the game is played. There are 4 fish baits, numbered 1 to 4. A member from the audience randomly chooses one of the 4 baits. If the fish coincidentially bits the bait corresponding to that number, and a card falls out, that participant wins a prize.

Next up was Takasakiyama Monkey Park.

It is know to be a hill full of monkeys.

Many steps leading to the top of the hill.

And YUP, its just monkeys everywhere. Haha.

Sex Museum

2008-04-09T02:28:00.019+09:00

As the title suggests, there is some ADULT CONTENT featured in this blog. SO IF YOU ARE BELOW THE AGE OF 21, PLEASE SKIP THIS BLOG ENTRY.

My next stop is the HiHouKan, (translate: Treasure Museum. In actual fact: Porn Museum) where they feature all sort of sex-related exhibits

There were displays of various sizes and variations of penises, ranging from animals, to humans, to some not-so-human ones.

Lesson learnt: The size of the penis is usually proportional to the size of the animal, but it is not necessarily true. For example, the tiger's penis can be larger than a giraffe's penis.

There were also random displays of different sex positions for humans.

Clay models

Life-size mannequins

Quiz:

From the 5 animals above, guess which animal this v****** belongs to?

There were also displays of some HenTai (变态) stuff.

They also made fun of some popular icons.
1)Marilyn Monroe
Original. Her famous picture taken when her skirt got blew upwards whilst walking past a man-hole.

Porn version. Press a button and a machine below will blow wind upwards. Just in case you are curious, in this version, she is wearing a pair of pink panties underneath

2) Snow White

What on earth are the 7 dwarves doing to Snow White?

Check out the nose of the evil witch.

Nearby, there were also fun displays to take photos with.

This machine is for you to practise some "obseen" motion. I chose the intensity of 10 out of 10 (as seen in the video below).

It is kinda similar to another OSIM iGallop. But the thrusting motion and tempo is different.

This short visit to the sex museum was really an eye-opener for me. And i believe that i learnt more than i did in those sex education science classes conducted in school. LOL :)

Beppu: Onsen Heaven

2008-04-08T02:21:00.008+09:00

In Japan, Beppu is one of the most well-known places for onsen.

See, there is even a small fountain right in front of the train station. The hot water which is shot out consistantly from the small "crater" is real sulphuric spring water, know to have beneficial medicial effects.

A "Hell-Well" (地獄 aka JiKoKu) is actually a small crater where heated water/liquid keeps spitting out of it. This output is usually sulphuric. There are 8 famous JiKokus in Beppu, eg Sea Jikoku, Blood jikoku etc etc.. but we decided to go for only 1.

This is the Umi Jikoku (Sea Hell-Well). This one is called "Sea", because the liquid being spit out is blue in colour.
Nearby there is a place where u can soak your feet in the hot spring water.
Its really hot!

I secretly took pictures of other kids who soaked their feet too. If you look at the photos carefully, you will be able to see that the lower half of their legs are red.

Next stop in Beppu was to the famous MUD onsen bath. At this place called HoyoLand, they offer all kinds of mud bath - indoor and outdoor (mixed bath)

As the mud is know to have some therapeutic effect on the skin, its no wonder some of the onsen goers smeared mud all over their face.

Of course, due to the nature of mixed bath, no photography was allowed. I got these pictures from the internet.

It is really enjoyable to be able to soak in the warm onsen and admire at trees/nature/mountains around, at the same time...

Mt Aso

2008-04-08T01:36:00.002+09:00

Mt Aso, located in central Kyushu, is a "must-go" place for tourist. It is so famous because it is one of the most active volcanos in the world and has the record of the world's largest caldera(abt 25 km in diameter).

That morning when we arrived at the station, it was exceptionally cold.

And then we took a ropeway up to the peak.

It SNOWED!!!!!

Argghhhhh!!! TL and I were only wearing thin sweaters and were totally unprepared for snow!

The following pictures depict 2 things

1) TL and me shivering in the snow.

2) Background shows one of the bigger craters. We can see a blueish liquid inside and it keeps emitting sulphuric smoke.

Kumamoto

2008-04-08T01:16:00.004+09:00

Due to a delay in the train ride, we almost missed the last ferry to Kumamoto. Luckily we made it just in time (after running for 10min).

The 50min ferry brought us accross the channel from Shimabara to Kumamoto.

The ferry wasnt crowded, so we had a lot of space to ourselves. Do we look live VIPs in the photo above?

Along the way, some birds (seagulls i think) accompanied us. We threw some scrap bread/biscuit in to the air and those birds will dive down to catch the food before it drops into the sea. It was a delightful bird-feeding experience.

At Kumamoto main train station.
In order to save money, TL and me shared a single room in a hotel. In Japan, most hotels provide onsen(温泉) bath facilities.

We changed into the YuKata (浴衣), a kimono-like bathrobe, and are ready to go for the bath.

Something interesting happened that day too. While we were wandering around the station in the evening, a policeman doing his normal patrol duties decided to check our identificaitons. (we obviously did not look like locals as we were holding cameras and walking around aimlessly)
We started chating with him..... he was shocked to learn that we were exchange students and were able to speak japanese...
When i asked for directions on how to get to our next destination, he was unable to help, so he offered to bring us back to his police station nearby where his colleagues had a better idea.

Here we are, in Kumamoto station police station, taking photo with police officers :)
They look quite smart in their uniform.

what a weird encounter...

Shimabara

2008-04-07T01:19:00.011+09:00

Our next stop was Shimabara, a small town which is 3 hours train ride from Nagasaki.

The main attraction of this place is the Shimabara Castle. Long long time ago, when the Dutch trades came to japan, they came by the southern route. As such, this small town of Shimabara was highly influenced by western ideologies - such as Christianity, democracy etc etc.. This was outrightly against the practice of the emperor then. Then he commanded some sort of attact on this town and a lot of people died and bla bla bla... (as if i care/remember).

Btw, i have no idea how many percent of the story I mentioned above is accurate.

Whatever the case, this tourist attraction spot is fun.

Me dressed up in a Samurai costume.

And the view from the top of the castle is impressive...

Me and TL taking fun shots with the castle.

The next big attraction of town is
"City of Swimming Carp - Approximately 1,500 carp swim in the beautiful pools of this city of fish. Their forms add elegance to Shimabara, a city of fresh springs. "

- these were copied directly from the official tourist website

But when I reached there...

Where are the fishes???

Then...

after walking downstream for about 300m,

I finally found a few (much less than the stated 1500 fishes) clustering in a corner

Nagasaki by Night

2008-04-07T00:31:00.005+09:00

Mount Inasa, in Nagasaki, is voted one of the best 3 night views in Japan. The other 2 are Mount Rokko(in Kobe) and Mount Hakodate(in Hokkaido).

TL and me got lost on the way trying to find the ropeway station. But thanks to these 2 kids who lived around the area, we eventually found our way.

The 2 boys are so cute !!!!!! They guided us to the station.

Yet another picturesque photo.
This photo was taken near the ropeway station. Sakuras are blooming. There is a small temple in the background too.

Me playing with the charms pple tie to strings.

TL and me in the ropeway cabin on the way up.

Breathtaking view from the top. Too bad my camera isnt very apt for taking night scenery shots. But from there, you can see the whole Nagasaki city lighted up.

Guess who??

Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum: A sad story

2008-04-05T01:41:00.006+09:00

Next we went to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.

Too bad no photo taking was allowed. The museum was generally separated into 3 sections: First was the display of ruins from the Atomic Bomb. Next was the Science and History part. Science teaching you more about the atomic bomb, its damages etc. History telling us the sequence of the arms race and development of the Atomic Bomb, and of course, a summary of World War 2. A little know fact is that this atomic was not intened for Nagasaki. Its original target was a town slightly north, called Kokura. But due to bad visibility weather conditions, the pilot wasnt able to drop in in Kokura. Running low on fuel, the next best target was Nagasaki. (Nagasaki was quite unlucky then)

Next to the Museum was the memorial park. Its almost april now, and some of the SAKURA(cherry blossms) are starting to bloom.

Here is GROUND-ZERO where the bomb landed. Luckily I was not standing here on 9th August 1945 at 11am.

This ugly-looking(in my opinion) statue behind me is the peace statue.

A fountain in the park....

A memo from a victim of the disaster:

........I am so thirsty and I cant bare it anymore. A layer of greasy stuff floated on the water. Whatever it is, I need water. At last, I just drank the greasy stuff as it is......

A sad story... everyone who has studied physics or chemistry will be able to explain what exactly was going on.... Nuclear fusion, Gamma rays, protons, isotopes... blah blah blah...

Nagasaki

2008-04-05T01:00:00.005+09:00

Today, I met up with a fellow NUS friend Tian Long (TL). Our first stop is Nagasaki, just 3 hours bus ride away.

Being deligent and hardworking undergrads, our first stop was undoubtedly Confucius Temple.

Nice landscape in the temple itself.

Btw, in case u dont know, Confucius, aka 孔子, is a damn smart guy in ancient china. His disciples invited magnificiant things like an earthquake sensor, weather forcast instruments, ion detector etc etc.
Therefore, we have reason to believe: If we pray to Confucius, we will become smarter :)

YUPPIE, i instantly felt smarter after praying. Lets hope that i will score distinctions in my upcoming tests/exams.

Next up, we went to take photos with some of Confucius's disciples. They were all stone statues lined up around the temple.

As u can see, i blend in well with the other disciples.

A picture of me and Mr Han Fu Hei.

We then dropped by Nagasaki's Chinatown in the hope to find something good to eat. After a week in Japan, I kinda start to miss chinese food.

Me and TL in a nice chinese restaurant along Chinatown.

This is some sort of Tou Fu Rice
This is Tian1 Jin1 Rice (天津饭). Basically, its just omelette egg with some salty gravy on rice.

Nothing very speical actually. We were slightly disappointed.. perhaps chinese food back home is still better (and of course, much cheaper)

Detour

2008-04-03T02:54:00.004+09:00

With some extra time to spare, i decided to detour to a nearby SMALL TOWN called Nakagawa, in the hope to find something INTERESTING/UNEXPECTED.

The map looks interesting. There are reads, fountains, parks etc...

These were the pictures taken around the train station. Alas, (or should i say "as expected") it was nothing more than a boring small town...

Sigh...

Exploring Hakata

2008-04-03T02:27:00.010+09:00

Today, I was alone... so i decided to explore the place myself.

First stop, Fukuoka tower. Architecture looks impressive, but its only about 30 floors high. Any normal housing flat in Singapore would have easily beat that height. But over there, it was the highest, as compared to its surrounding buildings.

The view from the top was quite impressive...

You can see the surrounding buildings. That weird looking land protruding out into the sea is actually a CHURCH!. Thats my next stop.

The church was beautifully decorated with flowers. As there was a privte wedding event going on, I was not allowed to enter the church.. could only take pictures form the outside..

I took a short walk along the beach to reach FUKUOKA YAHOO DOME.

(In Japan, they use the word "Dome" instead of "stadium")

So effectively, this is their national stadium (sponsored by "yahoo", i guess) where most of their baseball matches are held.

Their regional team called "HAWKS". That is probably why they delicated the name of the adjacent town to be called "Hawks Town" :)

I continued walking, and i found this:

Does this remind you of the typical HDB flat we see in Singapore?

Yup, i actually took this picture in Kyushu, Japan!! The layout of the building structure is pretty similar.

Next stop: Odori Park

Just a lovely park with lots of birds, fishes, ducks and people picnicing

My FUGU experience

2008-04-01T16:25:00.013+09:00

FUGU (aka pufferfish/blowfish) is a specialty of Kyushu. As it is a POISONOUS fish, any mistake by the chef in preparing the fish can be fatel. Anyway, it is a "MUST TRY" delicacy in Kyushu!

We splurged quite a bit on this meal, but it was quite a satisfying one...

Nice exterior of the restaurant, with a cute picture of a FUGU
Authentic Japanese setting

Even the chopsticks holder is in the shape of a FUGU!! so cute!

Before the meal, Audun took some time to write his will, just in case anything goes wrong... BLAH.... Too bad none of his money goes to me.. :(

Sumptuous meal served. Apart from the FUGU(grey colour slices of meat), there were a dozen other side dishes, such as tempura, vegetables etc etc..

The correct way of eating the FUGU meat is to first wrap it around some vegetable, then dip in a unique blend of sauce.

Pics of me and Audun taking our first bite of the FUGU meat. Luckily nothing happened after that, else i wonldnt be here writing this blog.

The meal also came with a special kind of FUGU SAKE(Japanese wine). A fugu tail fin is used to add flavor to the wine.

The waitress heated the sake before serving. You can see the blue flame over the SAKE.

It was really HOT....

Next up was a steamboat dish prepared by the waitress....

The remaining soup from the steamboat was then used to cook porridge. BTW, the stock used earlier for the steamboat was actually made by boiling FUGU fish bone. No wonder the porridge is so tasty...

Last but not least, dessert....

Yuppie, we conquered the poisonous FUGU!!