Japan Winter Sports Destination, yes really!

Why you should consider Japan when thinking of booking winter sport vacation.

Hey, I know what you are thinking; skiing, Maria it's summer.

It seems off topic I'm sure, but its winter somewhere and if you are the type of person to spend money on winter sports holidays, it's coming up to the time to book now. And if not, it'll be interesting I guarantee.

So... lets begin.

What do I mean by winter sports, I mean the usual skiing and snowboarding but also things like snowshoeing and all sorts of other things. All sorts of things you don't think about when I say Japan.

             Let's play a little of the word association game - 

I say Japan  ..................You say: cherry blossom, monkeys in hot springs, matcha and Mount Fuji
I say Skiing  ............... You say: The Alps, Canada, US

See! You don't think they match, but they do!

You know that Japan held the Olympics in 1998 so it is really not so far fetched thinking. As people become more interested in travelling further and experience more, why not explore Japan. (beautiful in both spring and winter).

This year after several very long years away from the fluffy white stuff because of family injuries it was time to hit the powdered white slopes once more. So I feel I have enough personal experience to inform you all. (I'll get on to my experiences soon too)

The first major bonus is that in the country there are several places for a fanatic to visit and it's not unreasonable to visit more than one mountain cluster in one holiday. It is relatively easy to travel between ski resorts, whether that be by plane, shinkansen or coach.

It's also really easy to go on impromptu trips, for as short as a day, on the slopes which would never be possible in the Alps. Its made even easier by the fact that you don't need to reserve anything usually. You can turn up on the day and hire the right equipment, even clothing which I think is really cool. Whether you live in Japan or your visiting it makes skiing very accessible.

My personal favourite is the Apres Ski. Nothing like the European version that spills over social media during the snowy months. Polar opposites actually. It's a lot more low key than raves at the bottom of the resort. As you may or may not know Japan is well known for its hot springs (onsens) and I can assure you that it is literally the best feeling after a day on the cold slopes to soak all the aching body parts, from the inevitable falling, in steaming natural water. When you're in the hot spring melting and relaxing after a packed day in the snow, I promise you that the nervousness/awkwardness of being naked is really not an issue that you think about. And I guarantee that you will have the best night's sleep whether your bed is western or futon.

Now for the technical stuff all you ski fanatics have been waiting for. The biggest questions when looking at winter holidays are about the conditions, slope difficulty, altitude and ski lift prices. Japan in generally quite mountainous, but they are not as high an altitude as the alps for example, which means skiing from the top to the bottom quite easily. That also means that you don't have to get a gondola up the slopes, it is more popular to get chair lifts. As we are talking ski lifts, I'll quickly mention the prices; which is comparison to others is rather in expensive, whether you buy a week pass or day passes. As with most resorts the difficulty is very varied, their colour scale is a little bit different than Europeans versions but it is easy to navigate. 

For more information check out: http: www.snowjapan.com 

Places I can personally recommend  for Winter Sports. 

^ 1) Hunter Mountain (Nikko)  ^

^ 2) Gran Deco (Bandai) ^

^ 3) Hakuba (Nagano) ^

I hope you enjoyed my little guide to skiing in Japan. comment down below if you want to know anymore.

See you soon, 

Maria xx

Skiing

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October Half Term Trip

Good morning,

Half term, I'm not sure if I told you but Shaun came out for the holiday; so that was super exciting. Definitely a long awaited trip. I was so excited to show him Japan.

Queue another mini road (train) trip! This time we expanded our horizons with less time so it was jam packed. If you ever travel to Japan I can't express how important the rail pass is, but also; quick tip - go the furthest away and make you way back to the centre/home. As it was a short trip we narrowed it down to two main places; Hiroshima and Kyoto (yes again, but I'll explain)

Hiroshima 

As with most travelling in Japan, especially when we are departing from Utsunomiya it involves getting an early train if you don't want to waste a whole day travelling. So as with most trips I did most of the planning but apparently my brain wasn't 100% plugged in because as we started our journey we realized to get to Hiroshima it was going to take 6 hrs. We did some calculation and although it seems a long time, if you compare the mileage to drive in Europe it’s like driving from London to Barcelona. We may be in the same country but it’s a bloody long way.

Once we arrived after the long journey it’s only fair to eat and what better to eat than the local speciality; Okonomiyaki. Although I fear we may have gone to entirely the wrong place. As I've said before it is quite common for shopping centres to be on top of the station and they normally have good restaurants on the top floor, I'm not saying it was bad but I've had better in Utsunomiya.

After that we went to the A-Bomb memorial site which was an interesting experience. I know it’s meant to be a surreal upsetting experience, I dint know if I was just not feeling it that day but I wasn't that distraught about the situation. I know that it’s sad that it happened but it did and what they have done in its place is beautiful. Maybe I just see it from a different angle, as a celebration rather than mourning. I appreciated the beauty of the building it left behind, and how amazing it is that it is still there and the park itself is beautiful, tranquil and I just thought it was a nice place to be and think.

I think it was safe to say that after that it was time to find the hotel; it had been a long day. We were in fact quite lucky on our trip to the hotel, we jumped on a train and when we got off at our stop there was a shuttle to our hotel just about to leave. This hotel let us eat dinner which was a bonus! Our room was really nice but I had obviously forgotten to tell Shaun that we were sleeping on tatami on the floor the whole week, that didn't go down so well (He got used to it in the end).

The next day we woke up and we went to the island called Miyajima, it’s a little island just a smidgen of the coast of Hiroshima, you've probably seen picture before, it is home to the Red Torii gate in the middle of the ocean. So of course we had to see that, I did some ballet in unusual places as usual.

Took in the atmosphere and then we decided to go up a mountain! That caused some issues. Typical boy, he said he didn't want to walk up the mountain so we said he could stay at the bottom and wait for us. Then around half way through he decides to come and find us … long story short he ended up walking up twice trying to find us.

After we got back down together we decided to go get some lunch, on our map - a pictorial map I must add - was a path that led down to the town centre past a beach. BAD decision! The pictorial map neglected to show that there was a mountain ridge in the way. And once we had realised it was too late to turn back, well it’s definitely not something we will forget.  

Kyoto

After our whistle stop tour of Hiroshima, next stop was the Kyoto, although we had been before, Shaun hadn't and we hadn't seen everything either. Whereas last time we didn't stay in the centre of as much this time we did.

 The main part of the trip was to see Kinkaku-ji or as most people know it The Golden Pavilion. It’s a Zen temple, although not very Zen when trying to get a photo; it was rather crowded. However we stayed in the gardens for a while and it was very tranquil.

Of course the next day before catching the train again we went to the bamboo forests, because why not. I think he really enjoyed it as he’s seen quite a few movies that have been filmed there.

I should also tell you about the hotel, it was so cute, I didn't know they existed but there were tatami bunk beds, which freaked the hell out of my mum. The owners were so kind and helpful. It was called Fujitaya Kyoto and if you are in Kyoto on a budget then you should try it out.

The night we spent in Kyoto however was a bit of a flop, we had gone to the Geisha district, but there had been a fire perhaps and there were fire trucks everywhere. I don’t know if that contributed to the fact but we didn't see any Geisha's at all. The food was really good though.

It was a rather exciting but also very tiring trip. Full of lots of little memories I won’t forget. One to remember for sure.

I apologise to all you readers that I took so long to write this post. But as you can see a lot happened so I hope you enjoyed the read

Thank you,

Maria x

Living in Japan

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Japan in the Snow

Good afternoon,

I'm still working on more detailed posts but I thought I would tell you about an experience I had yesterday. So yesterday was a Monday, and if that wasn't bad enough its winter. The weekend had been cold but it wasn't that bad.



Then on Monday morning I woke up to Utsunomiya blanketed in snow, with no warning it had snowed around 20cm! As anyone would my first thought was no school/work, and if you don't your lying. Unfortunately as I picked up my phone and was about to get into bed I had a Email. *ping* SCHOOL IS OPEN.


Well that killed it, it was time to put as many layers on as possible and head out it to the big white world. As you all know my journey is already quite a long one and in England I would have never bothered to try, as when it snows; Britain tends to shut down. But I thought thought 'this is Japan they get snow all the time, they'll be prepared' I couldn't have been more wrong.

As I started the journey it wasn't that bad, I did get the earlier train just in case, the skinkesen was a tad late and travelling slightly slower but who can blame them. Infact, while waiting at the station freezing my butt off I saw a train wiz past and I have to say it did look quite cool, but unfortunately I didn't get a picture.

< Bit like this but cooler

The issue became apparent as soon as I got into Tokyo. I think its strange how the fastest train in the world can cope in the snow but the small city trains have so much trouble. I know why but it doesn't make sense to me at least.

First issue, the Yamanote line, famous for being overcrowded, and unreliable but I hadn't encountered it until now. The queue was astonishing, the lines for each platform merged into one, but as comically Japanese culture is always portrayed they were stood dead still in immaculately straight lines with little attitude; can you imagine. Once I was finally on the train I was flung into the train just by the force of people that wanted to get on this train, we were way over capacity, I don't think I've been that squished in my life. My feet were no longer touching the floor! 

Now of course the journey once on the train was far longer than normal, by this point I was already at least 30 minutes late to school, spending ridiculous amounts of time at each station and trying not to be swept away by the sea of people getting off at various stations. When I finally got off the train I was relieved, home stretch only 15 minutes left, but I forgot this was not a normal day. It seems i take the two busiest train line in Tokyo to get to school and it was mayhem.

After what felt like a lifetime I reached Sangen-Jaya station and a I left I noticed there was a hold up getting onto the station platform. The police had stopped people entering the station and as far as the eye could see and further there were crowds of people, waiting. I have never heard that station me so quiet, hundreds of people yet a dead eerie silence in the air.

     

^   Snaps of my first snow journey experience.

So in the end it took me 4 whole hours to get to school instead of the normal 1 3/4. And I thought i had it bad one of the guys from my school got held up even more missing both his lessons. His journey normally take 20 Minutes, that fateful monday morning it took 3!! I suddenly felt like i was unable to complain especially when he showed me the pictures.

All part of the experience I guess, and no doubt I may encounter the snow again, one of the hazards of winter. To finish of the day I was treated on the shinkansen to a beautiful view of Mount Fuji in the sunset, I have noticed that because occasions of seeing it are becoming more frequent as it get colder as there are no clouds, so i'm sure I will have way too many photos of the volcano by the end of winter.

Thanks for reading my rather hilarious story of my time with transport in Japan in the snow,

Maria x

Student

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Holiday - the last day.

I don't want it to be over! Although I feel like we were so busy and on the go I need a holiday to relax after the holiday.

So to make the most of the last day before getting the train back to Utsunomiya we went into Tokyo to explore and with an agenda.

The Agenda is as follows;
- Buy new lens for Amy's Camera
- Look at new Ballet shoes
- Shop Generally, obviously
- Visit Sky Tree
-  See the imperial palace
- Go to Ginza
- Go to Shibuya

And if you've ever been to Tokyo in August you will know that that list is almost impossible to achieve because of the heat and Humidity that comes with cramped tall city buildings. Which is why we hardly made a dent in what we wanted to do.  But I will tell you about what did go down that day.

We got into Tokyo station we proceeded to find our way through the maze to the Shinkansen Gate, as we wanted to store our luggage somewhere with easy access. However lots of people seemed to have the same idea as the lockers were full and there was a huge queue for overflow locker space.

We finally got out of the train station and decided our first port of call was the imperial palace. Seemed easily enough we had a map and it was clearly marked. Little did we know at the time it was baking hot as it was approaching noon and, that you can only see the castle from the gardens which you have to pay for and the entrance is on the other side of the park. So instead of seeing the most amazing castle we saw a huge stone wall and a line of trees. Don't be too down heartened though because we were able to see the two moats which were home to turtles and giant fish so that was interesting to watch.

Next on the agenda; lens fro Amy's camera, we decide to head up Ginza as it is only 3 minutes away by subway. It also had shopping opportunities and none of us had been before. First stop the camera shop unusually difficult to locate and I think we may have ended up at a different one than we intended but oh well. Amy bought an amazing lens with a considerable discount compared to buying it in the UK.

After that we
stumbled upon A&F. I haven't been to one of their stores for probably two years and oh my god it smelt amazing. I don't know what the smell is and you cant buy it to take with you but it is unique and sensational. So I am now not so bummed about going shopping in Japan.

Once the very tiring but not so productive day was over we collected our luggage and hopped on the next train back Utsunomiya where we slept very well.

Hope you enjoyed your my account of our holiday this year,

Maria xx

Living in Japan

1

Holiday - Disney

DISNEY, who wouldn't be excited.

Instead of staying another day in Atami we decided to head into Tokyo early. We arrived at our hotel at 10am and we decided to go to Disney Sea! We were in the park before 11.

Disney Sea Tokyo is the only one of its kind, you would imagine it might be something like Animal Kingdom in Florida; you would be wrong. It's kind of amazing and so much better, I would say its a mix between the Studios, Epcot and a hint of A Kingdom. However it really is in a league of its own. It gets in Sea from the fact that it is basically in the sea, not quite but its on the coast and all the water used throughout the park comes from the ocean. If you love an immersive experience you will love it, the theming and attention to detail is amazing you could quite easily be lost and transported to amazing scenes.  Seeing as this wasn't planned, best decision ever!

Disney is a really big thing in Japan it seems, everyone was walking around with ears and matching outfits and bright chaotic t-shirts. Many of them far older than me and Amy, so for the first time ever we bought bows. I feel like this is unusual, most little girls go to Disney and the first they they buy are ears, most likely a waste and I guess my mum knew it because I got to the age of 18 without having the experience. I have to say though it was probably the best place to go all out.

While going around the park we noticed a face that we had never come across, Duffy. After posting it on Facebook my uncle knowingly informed us who he is, although I'm pretty sure he didn't know either until he goggled it. Duffy formally known as the Disney bear is a bear Minnie made Mickey to take with him on his journeys, aw cute right? So, naturally I had to have one. There are two things you can never grow out of these are; cuddly teddies and Disney!

The next day as planned we went to Tokyo Disneyland, its pretty much the same as any other Disneyland apart from the layout and the addition of Toon Town and of course everything is in Japanese. Even mickey Mouse is Japanese, his voice higher in pitch as well. However the language is not consistent throughout, some is still in English but its doesn't make sense for those bits to be in English and others not. For example a song that was sung throughout a parade which i had never heard before was in English but when they showed a clip of Belle or Peter Pan in London it was in Japanese. I thoroughly enjoyed myself though.

Another thing I noticed about Tokyo Disney is that it a lot cheaper than other Disney resorts, not cheap in comparison to Japan but if you compare the merchandise prices in Florida to that of Tokyo there is a significant difference. My mum for most of her life has wanted to dine at the themed restaurant Blue Lagoon set in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, but we have never gone a) because of the price and b) we could never get seats. Unlike other resorts you cannot book tables at any of the restaurants, so we headed down on the off chance that it wasn't full and it wasn't too expensive. Neither was the case, we were seated immediately and it was very reasonable for the food and experience. It was amazing, I loved it even if we did have hassle with Amy's eating requirements. We then finished the day off with the illumination of Cinderella's castle, mesmerizing and magical as one would expect.

Maria xx

Living in Japan

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Holiday - Atami

Morning, (its morning somewhere right)

So as I said in my previous blog my mum, my cousin and I went on a tour of south of Japan. This entry is about stop number 2; Atami. This section was meant to last 2 days, time to recoup our energy and relax, well that is not quite what happened. Read on to found out more.

After spending most of the day in Kyoto we jumped on a train on our way to Atami, that was more challenging than it needed to be too. We realised that the journey was somewhat longer than we had expected, so we thought we would upgrade our tickets to reserved seats. We have done it before but the guy at the desk just was not having it and didn't really want to help us, he did eventually and only by refunding the tickets and then charging us again. And then charging Amy the full price.

When we finally arrived it was dark and we decided to get a taxi to the hotel, just as well as it was miles away up a hill. We were tired and when realising it was so far away and asked if we could have dinner at the hotel, No. We assumed it was because it was late so we headed off back down to the town via another taxi. The town was CLOSED! Only 2 restaurants open, and one was McDonalds and the other was a sushi restaurant which was kinda crappy. However the view from our room was amazing and the beds were quite comfortable after some adjustments made by Amy which involved me sleeping on what looked like a marshmallow or a cloud.

We woke up and before went to breakfast, nothing special, and then went to the reception to ask about dinner again. This time we were told it was not included in our price (which we knew) we said we would pay. "No, Impossible!". We literally laughed out loud and just walked off. We decided to have a picnic in our room instead.

It's not OK to be in the middle of nowhere and not serve your guests food especially when the nearest place to eat is a 10 minute taxi journey and its closed. 

We made our way to the beach which was OK, but our experience at the hotel had already tainted our vision and it was hard to relax. We had lunch a place called Jonathan's which overlooked the beach and kept ourselves out of the midday heat. The rest of the day was spent on the beach, hot, soft sand and lovely blue skies. The sea was sublime; clear blue and not extremely cold, refreshing and it had pontoons that you could swim out to. The afternoon was stress free and very relaxing and I don't think any of us wanted to go back to the hotel.

Needless to say we were not enthused at our time in Atami and the next day we had planned to spend on the beach. But after the events of the previous days we decided instead to go to Tokyo early. We woke up super early; called for a taxi, guzzled breakfast and checked out. Unbelievable when we checked out they gave us a leaflet about their restaurant with the receipt! Oh yeah the food that cheap and good quality but we can't eat, argh!

We jumped in the taxi and we were off to Tokyo!!!

See you there :)

Maria xx

Living in Japan

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Holiday - Kyoto

Afternoon,

So last week my mum, Amy and I went on holiday. My mum had the week off because the site was shut down. We decided to do a tour of the south of Japan as it is quite as way from where we are based. Quite excitingly I was given the task of planning the holiday completely, I normally have an input but this year it was all up to me, muah ahaha! A tad stressful but it was fun.

Plan of Action -
Day 1 - Travel to Kyoto, Explore, Sleep
Day 2 - Bamboo forest, Travel to Atami, Sleep
Day 3 - Relax, Sleep
Day 4 - Relax, Travel to Tokyo, sleep (not what actually happened but explain later)
Day 5 - Tokyo Disneyland, sleep
Day 6 - Tokyo Shopping, Home, sleep

Because so much happened that week I have decided to do 1 blog for each location, so stay tuned for the adventures of Atami and Tokyo.

So on the first day we began very early in the morning as we had to get a train to Kyoto which took around 3 hours. That is a lot I know but when you think about it, its 522 km away vertically on the other end of Japan, which would take you around 7 hours to drive without stops, it all doesn't seem that bad. The train was quite simple as well just one change at Tokyo and very civilised. they say the north and the south of Japan are  very different, and they would not be wrong. You wouldn't expect it but why not, its like 2 different neighbouring states in America, still american but have completely different cultures.

We arrived I decided to take them to the Inari Shrine only a 5 minute train journey away from Kyoto central. This is typical tourist territory like most of the trip, its often the front cover of the travel books and its no wonder why; its so beautiful. However the picture are deceiving; from the picture it looks like there is one row of maybe 50-100 gates, not quite. The gates go on endlessly in various sizes and were wiggling up a bloody mountain. Don't get me wrong, its amazing and it was fun but not when its like 35 degrees and you have suitcases to bring with you up the hour long trek.



In the evening we arrived at our hotel in Arashiyama and we were completely frazzled, I'm surprised we even made it to dinner, I could have fallen asleep right then and there. As a result we went to bed at the ridiculous time of 8.30, I haven't gone to bed that early since I was 5!

We woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and ready to explore the Bamboo forests. Breakfast is always interesting, no matter where you go it seems; just varying degrees of odd. On our way to the Forest only a 15 minute walk from our hotel, we stumbled upon a bicycle hire shop where you could rent a bike for 1000 yen a day (that's £6 for the whole day!) and it was definitely money well spent. Arashiyama is not the biggest of places but it is spread out and it would be hard to do everything in one day, however with the bikes we were able to see almost everything with time to spare.

The two main attraction for us would be the Bamboo Forest (of course) and the Scenic railway. They were both amazing experiences and it felt like you were transported to a different world. From the streets you could hardly tell there was a forest behind, until you take a little alley street and then all of a sudden you are immersed in Bamboo and you have lost site of the bus street behind. The bamboos Shoot up as far as the eye can see. Even the fences are made of bamboo shoots. It's incredible and I cant quite do it justice in words.

 The Scenic railway is a steam train that runs along the bamboo forests as well as vast river that winds around the mountainous range. On our journey we saw that it is the perfect river for a white water rafting experience however that would have needed to be booked in advance. The colours and the views were to die for and it was so relaxing to look out onto whilst chugging along on an odd train. Very nice and peaceful end to our stay in Kyoto.

Stay tuned for what happened next on our holiday

Maria xx

Living in Japan

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We Have the Keys!! Empty Apartment Tour

Hello

At last we have moved in, I say moved in I mean we have the keys but we cant move in yet, we have literally no furniture! So here it is, what a lot of you have been waiting for a tour of the all be it empty apartment.

I apologise in advance if the sound quality is not very good, but I thought it would be nicer for you to watch a video than read hundreds of words, easier on the brain.

Thank you, hope you enjoyed seeing the apartment and let me know if you would like another post when there is actually furniture. 

Maria xx

Living in Japan

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Nagano

Hi, hope you are all doing well ;)

So this weekend was bank holiday weekend so we thought we would look at going away and staying over a night. I have now met most of my mums colleges, they all seem very nice and they can all be quite funny. So one of them, his name is Richard decided to joins us on our adventure across Japan. We decided on going to Nagano, my mum has already been but not for very long. I say Nagano but it's not really Nagano we went to, Nagano and vicinity.

Yudadanka  

Yudadanka is under an hour north from Nagano. It's popular for its Onsen street and the Snow monkeys that bathe in the volcanic pools. If you watched the BBC documentary on Japan's wildlife recently then you might have heard of/recognise it.



When we arrived we went straight to the monkey park. The monkeys aren't enclosed they are free to come and go as they please, they choose to come back. This means you can get really close to them, it's unreal how close, you have to be careful where you step as they scurry round your feet. One of them took a particular liking to my mums new umbrella, in fact they had a little fight over it. Hilarious. We then went up further to Shiga-kogen to go to the lake and the board walk, however when we got their we realised it was a three hour walk from the end of the bus line and it had started raining. Opps.

Our hotel was on the Onsen street and we had a traditional Japanese room with futons and its own Onsen. In the evening the street was filled with people in robes going to each Onsen. I know the water is all the same but they believe each Onsen is good for a different part of the body. This time I did try however the water stinks of sulphur and it is incredibly hot, I could only poke my foot in and my foot was red for a while after. We all slept well which was good because Richard had planned the day after and we would need our energy.

On our way to the train station we passed a peace shrine, which was a statute of lady towering over Yudadanka. There was also a large bell that a few people were seen hitting with a tree trunk. It was explained that they were praying/wishing, so me and Amy decided to pray for our A levels, we need as much luck as we can get.

Obuse 

Obuse is in between the two. We had a English leaflet of the region and Richard had made it out plan to do all  the 12 things on the leaflet. We had done the 6 already so there were only 6 to go. However it was a particularly hot and humid day, and there was a lot of walking. To be honest I'm not entirely sure what we went to see the heat was somewhat clouding my vision. First we walking about 5 km to a shrine on the outskirts of Obuse which was cute and then we made our way back to the station via the chestnut tree street, in the midday heat.

Nagano

From Obuse we made our way back to Nagano but we stopped of a few stations before so that we could have lunch and visit the Zenkoji Temple. For lunch we had cold soba noodles (buckwheat) and tempura with unlimited supply of water, very refreshing, and it much nicer than it sounds. We then went to the shrine which was very big and grand. It had a long straight road that leads to it. First it had a arch/entrance, then a giant gate (which we climbed up; very steep steps), and then the main temple surrounded by many smaller temples. I really liked it, however I thought that the tourism had slightly spoiled the sanctuary feel.

After we walked back to Nagano station and made our way back to Utsunomiya. The following week is quite short as we get the keys on Friday, so stay tuned for more info on that.






Maria xx

Moving to Japan

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Amy Arrives

Helllooo,

This week my cousin arrives and I am super excited. We are two peas in a pod (we only have a month between us) and she is my partner in crime. So we are can reek havoc on Japan together, I'm joking.

Before 

Before was mostly just general house keeping activities, as I knew the likelihood of me getting any work or admin done once Amy arrived was next to none. So I did the expenses for the first week in Japan, boring but it had to be done. And I went to the the bus station to buy a ticket for the bus to pick up Amy. However I did go out to explore Utsunomiya a little more, but nothing important to report, apart from I found a discount store where you can buy really cheap drinks. For example a Coke Zero (Japan doesn't have diet coke) was 60p whereas in the UK it would be around £1.50. I also discovered the gym at the hotel and I have decided to make the most of it while it is free and I'm going to be dragging Amy with me, I'm not sure whether she'll be pleased or not. ;) 

After 

Amy arrived very early in the morning on Thursday, which meant I had to get an even earlier bus to the airport about 2 hours away, so I got the bus a 6! I missed Breakfast :(. After waiting around for what seemed like ages, she came through the custom doors and I was able to snap a sneaky pic, which is probably not to flattering, oh well. She had hired a portable Wi-Fi and bought a JR pass so we had to collect those before returning and trying to keep her awake the whole day. I warn you; if you do get a JR pass the queue to collect it can be long so leave plenty of time.

Friday she was a little more awake so we ventured out to the shops in Utsunomiya, I didn't take her to any new shopping places however we managed to do 4 so that was quite impressive. We also went to the shrine opposite Parco which is up resting at the top of 70 steep steps. It's quite small but it was nice and quiet and the views were beautiful. Whilst in Parco we went down to the basement and discovered these large photo booths, so we thought we would give them a go. Entertaining to say the least, you take photos and it basically airbrushes your face and makes your eyes bigger; which must be the aspiration in Japan. Then you exit the booth and go to the customisation station, which of course is all in Japanese. It could be seen as wasting money but, the stories and laughs Amy and I got out of it are invaluable.

This weekend we are going to Nagano so stay tuned

Maria xx

Moving to Japan

0

Aizu Wakamatsu and Cinema

This weekend, we decided to venture further a field on Saturday, mostly because jet lag was over so we were able to wake up at a reasonable time. It was also a baking weekend so we thought we should make the most of it.

Aizu Wakamatsu 

Well like Mashiko, Aizu Wakamatsu is not in the Guide book, so it lies when it says well researched and updated on the front cover. Not impressed! We woke up and jumped on a train or two, it wasn't a bad journey but the tourist information at Aizu spoke little to no English which made communicating a tad difficult. Unfortunately, there aren't many western tourist because it is in the Fukushima prefecture. Even though it is perfectly safe and your are more effected by nuclear radiation in Tokyo or London; the numbers are just not publicised to death.

Aizu Wakamatsu is very popular and touristy because of its Castle, Samurai's and it's Onsens. The castle was home to many lords however it was de-constructed, constructed and left derelict many times over the years. Its the castle that never knew if it was coming or going. But I am glad it made it in the end, its beautiful. Onsens are hot public baths that are heated and filled from Volcanoes near by, I left my swimsuit at home so we gave that a miss. If you've watched 47 Ronin you may have heard of Aizu or the White tiger brigade. Quick low down; the castle comes under attack and the warriors/samurai this can see the castle go up in flames from afar and they think they have failed, so they kill themselves. It later transpires that they actually won and they were hero's. Communication is key!

We did something a little different that the normal western tourist wouldn't do, we went to a small shop and painted a paper mache Cow, ok that sounds weird but its normal I promise. The red cow is the mascot/lucky charm for the town, so we thought we would make one for our apartment.

Bell Mall

On Sunday we decided to tick of another of the numerous shopping centres in Utsunomiya. From the station it is really easy to get to only a short bus that only costs 150 yen and runs frequently, even on Sundays. That is something to note; Japanese shops do not close early on Sunday like England, in fact sometimes places stay open later on Sundays. It is a really nice mall with lots of variety, it caters for everyone with several different kinds of shops, however no shops that I had remotely heard off. The mall also has a gym with a swimming pool which im sure we will be getting plenty of use out of in the future. 

After trawling through the shops and their summer sales, we stumbled upon a Cinema! Even better it had films that were in English as well as others with English subtitles. So that means we can watch movies, which is great because we used to regularly go to the cinema and I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms. As I said it was a particularly warm weekend (hot) and that weekend the Terminator Genesis came out we decided to go see it. I will try not to spoil to much but, it was so good. Not to mention it has Matt Smith in it (he plays the bady), the 11th Doctor and one of the best. I nearly squealed with excitement but I was forced to hold it in because you are no allowed to make any noise what so ever in a Japanese cinema and they are very strict. The film is so good and I do recommend you watch it, to the very end as well I might add, because I may have almost walked out and missed a vital bit of information.

I will catch up, nearly there.

Maria xx

Moving to Japan

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The First Week

Before I start, I apologise for the lack of originality of the title.

People say the first week is the hardest, I can definitely see where they are coming from but I don't totally agree. It definitely has it ups and downs, but that's not like any other week. So my mum goes to work in the morning, leaving me to explore by myself.

What did I do on the first week? Well during the day if you've been reading the time stamps on my blog, that was the week I started my blog and I've been playing catch up because I thought it was important to do before and the introduction. I'm nearly present day, yay. Apart from watching a ridiculous amount of YouTube videos seeing as I only have one channel on the hotel TV which is CNN and the same news stories on repeat, come on I can be intellectual and listen to what's going on in the world but once you've watched the same thing 3 time you want to kill yourself.

At the start of the week the weather was pretty bad which encouraged the half of me that wanted to stay in the hotel suite for the next 4 week, however by about Wednesday we had dry weather and towards the end sun. So I was forced to go out. I motivated myself by making it my mission to go to as many of the shopping centres in town. There is about 7/8 so I obliviously didn't achieve it in the first week but I plan to keep going. This week I accomplished 5, I think that is pretty impressive.

1. JR Train Shopping centre - Unlike UK stations most stations have proper shops where you can buy; food, clothes, accessories, kimonos, toiletries , most things actually. Its not very big and it closes early but it does the job.
2. Lala Square - I would say this is the main department store in the centre of Utsunomiya, it sells anything you could ever want. It has Clothes, food, restaurants and a electrical store that sells everything from headphones to washing machines. It also has a Gap so it means normal/western styled clothes are available. (the one with the eyes)
3. Parco - Department store mostly for clothes and cosmetics, as well as a beer garden which would be nice in the evenings. It also has a store which is called GU which I would say is New Look style and quality but Primark prices which I think is going to become very useful. It also has a Starbucks ;)
4. Orion Square Store  - I stumbled on this by accident, while trying to make my way from Parco to Tobu. Its a small covered street, one behind the main road. It is a nice street to walk through and there were a few restaurants that I want to try but I wouldn't say it has a lot of shopping possibilities 
5. Tobu Train Department store - Above the Tobu line train station, which is not as useful as the JR line. It is the luxury store of Utsunomiya. I found another Tiffany's and Louis Vuitton, they are everywhere!

This week I also went out to dinner with many of my mums work colleagues/friends, which was lots of fun and quite interesting. Either trying to work out what was on the menu or translating it. 2 Nights in particular stay in my mind, one where we went to a French restaurant and they had a Menu in Japanese and In English. Its a shame the English Menu was a completely different very bland interpretation so in the end we just guessed. The other, we went out with a Group and food just didn't stop coming and some of the food was interesting; in the weird/I don't want to try that way. 

Overall I am happy with the first week and I cant wait to explore more. 

Maria xx

Living in Japan

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