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many great things happened in japan. had a great time. met some girls from rugby at the hostel in kyoto (rugby is a v small town)... did karaoke in kyoto and broke the marakas. the japanese people are wonderful. i had a macdonalds and on the way out all the staff behind the counter waved and smiled (it was a bit trippy because everyone was just too nice!). went to hiroshima. there is just too much to update. hiroshima was sad but the island was beutiful. i guess to really understand japan you have to visit there yourself. here are a few videos because i do believe that although a picture says a thousand words a video conveys much much more. basically from the top. started in tokyo. here is the fish market. (here is andrew at the fish market) (here is a person auctioning the tuna) took the bus to mount fuji (here is one of the uts on the way up the mountain) was with 2 americans from idaho took the bus out of mount fuji to mishma station (here is waitin for the bus) the music is the pedestrian crossing caught the bullet train to kyoto where met many people including british girls from rugby and simon who i travelled onto hiroshima with ( more... )link to photos http://pics.livejournal.com/paulttt/gallery/000666hy
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I'm on the bus from fuji to mishma where I will catch the JR train to kyoto.
the japanese do not use credit cards very much so rely on cash however atms are closed in the evenings, on sundays and on public holidays. There were 3 days of public holiday this week and they were consecutive.
Hostel in fuji was clean and warm and peaceful though not many people so I found it a little boring.
I will do some shopping in tokyo on the way back. I should send kat from work a pressie.
Yesterday i took the bus to mount fuji. There were 2 american lads on the bus so we hung out. one of them was teaching over here and the other had cash due to redundancy. They were camping near to a forest where japanese people go to commit suicide! The forest is dark and compasses do not work there and in the spring, i am told, people go into the forest and clear bodies of those that hung themselves during the winter. I was talking to k who owns these hostels that i have been staying in and he says that many japanese commit suicide due to stress from work. I get the opinion that japanese people expect a lot from themselves and that much is down to honour.
Other things that i notice abt japan are the lack of trash cans and lack of litter. People are very considerate of each other and obedient to the rules and codes of society. Its very strange for me as i am used to a random world where people are often out for what they can get rather than what they can give. It makes me a little ashamed not because of how we act necessarily but the fact that the japanese are better in so many ways and their methods do in fact work. Public transport is clean and reliable. They recycle what they can - there are more recycling bins than normal rubish bins. Japan has so much business - toyota, samsung, toshiba, sony, nintendo, JVC, nissan, daewoo, honda, hitachi, sega. What do we in the uk have? We have no brands left they have all been sold except perhaps tesco or sainsbury? Maybe vodafone?
They have vending machines here which sell hot cans of coffee and other machines that sell beer. drinking age is 20 here but the youth are trusted not to consume alchol before that age and so it is fine to sell fron vending machine because the youth respect that trust - shocking!
its almost like the japanese see the world in a cartoony way so that things are not so much scary to them.
panasonic, subaru, susuki, mitsubishi...
Nokia?
Oh no sumo btw because sumo tornament doesnt start until 13th which is when i fly out. Have to come back another time?
Didn't climb fuji (highest mt in japan) it looks a bit like mt rainer in WA. The bus took us to station 5 and we treked through the snow to station 6. we weren't supposed to go higher than 5 without equipment and it is not recommended that people climb mountain at the moment as it is not the season. I will post pictures. I left the americans at stage 6 as they were climbing higher and i had bought a return bus ticket unlke then who had gone for the single. My bus left and they were to walk down. 5 miles to the base and it was cold and would get dark. Anyway my stop is coming up soon so must go!
I'll write again soon!
Paul
xxx
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christmas in lake district
me, sarahs kid josh, beth, me, beth, me, fiona, tim, me, soup, beth. |
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before the running got underway..
lads were from near byfield (the village i grew up in)
girl was emily who i met out in croatia. she was swimming between islands on holiday and i was sailing. out of all the buses (100 or so) trafficing people to the start we ended up sitting next to each other! |
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during the running. streets of ny.
images, various. |
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ok i need to now decide what i want to see and do now i'm in this beautiful city. i'm happy that i didn't stay in a hotel though i could really do with relaxing in a hot tub right now as my legs feel a little wobbly! i've booked helicopter (1 hour long ride) for tomorrow at 1 but will have to see how the weather is. i want to meet up with ruth, geoff and perhaps will and emily (we were perhaps meeting last nite at 6 but i just came home and crashed out). i would like to see: borat ice skating rink grand central station maybe see a show? i want to go out and have a good time. i think i will see this http://ticketpro.net/USA/bodies/accueil_enbo.phpi need to buy: charger for my phone as the battery is now flat clothes (coat, jeans, tops etc) christmas presents a suitcase to put all my purchases in :) it was really nice when i came back to the hostel as one of the people in my room had left me a note with their contact details and a bottle of corona to celebrate with. they've now gone off to vegas and the west coast i hope that they have a fantastic time! there is twice as much choice here, the portions are twice as big, everything is half the price except petrol of course which is 1/5 of the price that it is in the uk. i've just been taking taxis everywhere because the cab fares start at $2.50 and i haven't had to pay more than $12 so far, of course i tip them a little bit as well. in england the meter starts at £3.00 ($6) and you'll be lucky to get in a cab and end up paying less than £20. so i'm very happy lol
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