Dan Pendo

We had a busy morning yesterday. After breakfast, we started our day by checking out Matsumoto Castle. It was a beautiful and fascinating building:


From the castle we went to Matsumoto City Museum of Art. There were some absolutely stunning pieces of artwork in there. I was really interested in artist Yayoi Kusama, her work was absolutely amazing! Unfortunately, I felt like I had to rush in the art museum because we had to catch a bus to Takayama.

The 2 and a half hour bus journey took us through the Japanese Alps and the sights were truly stunning! We're staying in another traditional style building with sliding doors, tatami flooring, and futon beds. Again, it has a traditional Japanese bath, which I have taken full advantage of the past two days.

Yesterday in Takayama we had a walk around the town before sitting down to a Japanese meal in the evening. We then all gathered in the lounge area for drinks and the group really bonded. Today we have seen a lot of the town. This morning we went to Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition, which displays some absolutely stunning floats from Takayama's famous festivals. We then went to the Sakurayama Nikko-kan, which has some absolutely fantastic scale models of many famous temples/shrines from around Japan. The amount of detail is unbelievable!


We then walked around the Sakurayama Hachiman Shrine which was really nice, before heading to the morning market to mooch around the shops and stalls. From here we then walked into the main town and to a Sake bruery to sample the goods! I love sake!

In the afternoon we jumped on a bus to Hida Minzoku Mura Folk Village, which is a kind of museum village which shows how a Japanese mountain village may have looked hundreds of years ago. It was really interesting, and the architecture was amazing.

I bought myself a Yukata and I'm tempted to wear it around the town!

This evening we have been for a Japanese meal within the town. I had the Hida Beef, which is just like Kobe beef where they massage the cows and feed them beer to keep them relaxed. It was delicious. Considering I don't like fish, I've eaten quite well in Japan.

I've really enjoyed being in Takayama. Tomorrow we're off to Kanazawa, which I'm really looking forward to because there is a huge samurai and ninja influence there.

I don't quite know where to begin. I've done and seen so much the past two days.

Tuesday we left the city of Tokyo in its famous Shinkansen bullet train, traveling to Nagano, home of Buddhist Zenkō-ji Temple. We were staying on the grounds of the temple itself, in a beautiful traditional style Japanese home. It had sliding doors, tatami flooring, and Japanese futon beds to sleep on.




After some tea, we went for a walk around the grounds of the temple itself. It was a beautiful sight, very traditional. I got lots of pictures!




After a mooch around some shops, we went back to the lodgings and I took part in traditional Japanese bathing. To do this I had to walk to the bathing area wearing just my robe. In the first room of the bathing area I had to remove my robe before entering the bathing room. In here I showered with the other men on my tour (the Japanese shower sitting down, which is very bizarre) before joining them in a large bath. The shower is where you clean yourself, the bath is just for relaxing in. The water temperature is too hot to stay in for too long, so after 3 or 4 minutes you have to come out and cool yourself down in the shower before reentering the bath. It was an enjoyable experience, even if I had to get my cock out for all to see!



After a good 40 minutes bathing, I got myself dressed and we went to a restaurant famous for their Soba (cold noodles). In all honesty I didn't think much of the cold noodles, but I still enjoyed the experience.

We returned to the lodgings at 8:45pm. The doors close at 9pm because it is part of the temple. Me and Natalie went straight to bed because we had a very early start the next morning.

This morning we were up at 4am. Every morning the monks hold a special chant to welcome the sunrise, and we were up to witness their ceremony. We first had to be blessed by the high priest. This involved kneeling down as he tapped us on the head with his special prayer beads. We were then lead inside the temple where the service began. It was fascinating to watch, even though sitting cross legged for an hour became very painful! After the service we went into a dark tunnel under the temple. So dark you cannot see your hands in front of your face, and have to feel your way through along the wall. Inside the tunnel is a special 'Key to Paradise' and Buddhists believe that if you find the key in the dark then you are guaranteed a path to paradise/enlightenment. I found the key, though I still doubt I'll ever reach paradise.

From here we returned to the lodgings for a traditional Buddhist breakfast. It was quite a large breakfast and very filling.


At 9am we went on an excursion to Yudanaka Onsen to see Japan's famous Snow Monkeys. The journey was a long one: an hour train journey, then another 20 minute train, followed by a taxi journey then a final 20 minute walk through the forest to the monkey park. The monkeys were cute as hell and I got lots of pictures of them. One monkey even stole Natalie's bottle of water. It was a fantastic experience.



We then travelled all the way back to Nagano to say one last goodbye to the city before catching our train and travelling through the Japanese Alps to Matsumoto. We're now checked into our hotel and are soon heading out for noodles and to check out the city. It's been a busy two days and I am absolutely exhausted, but it's been a fantastic experience and there is plenty yet to come.

This morning we got the train to Harajuku. We checked out Takeshita Street (you need to be careful with your pronunciation here), which is famous in Japan for it's fashion and trend setting.


Also in Harajuku we went around the Meiji Shrine, which is a Shinto Shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji. The shrine was a fantastic sight. I look part in the cleansing ritual before entering the shrine:



Inside the shrine I also took part in a special prayer. It was such a fantastic morning.

In the afternoon we got the train to Asakusa. We went for a Japanese curry for lunch, which was absolutely delicious! We then went to Sensō-Ji, the most important Buddhist temple in Japan. Again, another fantastic temple with lots of beautiful sights. I took part in their rituals and watched the Buddhist monks chanting.


The gardens around the temple were beautiful and full of Buddhist imagery.


We then made our way to Tokyo Cruises and arranged a cruise along the Tokyo river to Chūō, where we went to the Hamarikyu Gardens. The gardens were so peaceful and some lovely sights. We stopped off at a small tea house where we took part in a tea ceremony. I don't like tea, but I took part in the ceremony and drank my tea for the experience. No doubt I'll be drinking more green tea throughout my travels.

From the Hamarikyu Gardens we went up one of the large skyscrapers to get a view of the entire city during the sunset. It was quite moggy so visibility was low, but it was still an amazing sight!


We then got the train back to Ikebukuro and returned to our hotel to freshen up. The immense heat meant that we were constantly sweating and by this time we were all probably quite smelly.

After a quick shower and a change of clothes we went to a sushi restaurant. I'm not a sushi/fish fan, but I went for the experience. I tried a few non-fishy sushis, but they were still very fishy tasting. I didn't enjoy them, but nothing a few pints of beer couldn't help with. After that we mooched around the city and stopped off at a few bars for a drink.


We're packing our cases this evening because tomorrow we're moving from Ikebukuro/Tokyo to Nagano. We're staying with monks in a temple, so that will be quite exciting. I'm not sure when I'll next get chance to update you on our activities, but I will as soon as I can.

Last night we met up with our tour guide, Tyler. He's an American guy but he's lived in Japan for a few years and knows the language and the customs. He's a very nice guy. There are some other nice people in our tour group too.

We went to a Japanese restaurant and sampled lots of different foods. A lot of them I didn't touch because they had fish in them, but there were plenty of non-fishy options too. Even though they were small portions, there were so many courses it became quite filling.

From the restaurant, Tyler took us to a "British" pub called The Hub. It was so un-British it was hilarious, but it was a good laugh. Their "British pub food" menu was amazing. It's strange seeing how the Japanese interpret British food, and it makes you wonder how accurate our Chinese and Japanese menus are in England.

I certainly showed everyone how we drink back in Liverpool. I was quite drunk by the end of the evening. I don't really remember much of the evening if I'm honest.

The past two days we've spent in Ikebukuro, which is one of Tokyo's many city centres. Today we're getting the train into the main capital city of Tokyo. There'll be lots to see!

Me and Natalie have had a lovely day so far. We have mooched around Ikebukuro. We started off looking around the Rikkyo University campus. It was a lovely building. It seemed very quiet, but students are probably all home for the summer.

We than found a lovely park to sit in the shade for a bit because the heat was immense. I'll be surprised if I haven't caught any sun yet. We could hear cicidas making lots of buzzing noises.

Cicadas are associated with Japanese summers. These massive thumb-sized insects produce a loud buzzing, droning noise in the morning when it is hot. The hotter the weather the more noise they make. The largest ones live underground for five to seven years, sucking on sap in tree roots with long hollow mouthpieces, and emerge in summer and break free from their last larval shell as adult cicadas. The larval skins can be found around trees. Cicadas spend the hot months of the summer, making noise to attract mates, and mating, and die when the whether gets cold. Just as they signal summers arrival when they appear the signal it's end when they disappear.

(Japan Facts and Details)

We then spent hours in the Tobu Department Store, which is possibly one of the largest department stores in the world. 16 floors crammed with store after store! I've never seen anything like it. So easy to get lost. So easy to spend a fortune.

Me and Natalie are now back at the hotel room waiting to meet up with our tour guide. We're going for a Japanese meal with him this evening.

So much for my plan to avoid jet lag. I unintentionally fell asleep about 4:30pm after being awake for over 27 hours. I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed ready for a busy day. Such as shame it was 12:30am and the world was fast asleep! I didn't want to wake Natalie because I knew how tired she had been too, so I just lay in bed. Awake. Wide awake. Watching the minutes pass by. I watched a few episodes of LOST on my iPod to keep me from going insane.

I eventually got up and showered at 7 o'clock. Me and Natalie are going for a traditional Japanese breakfast this morning. I hope it's not fishy!

Konnichi wa everybody!

Me and Natalie made it to Tokyo about 10:10am Japanese time. We are absolutely exhausted after such a long journey, but it's been worth it.

We couldn't check into our hotel until 15:00 so we've just had a mooch around the local area. It's quite difficult when you don't understand the language at all. At least when you go to European countries you recognise some words and the writing, but here I know nothing! It's quite scary, yet exciting too!



I knew it would be hot here in Japan, but I had no idea it would be THIS hot. It's 33°C. We have the aircon on full pelt and the sweat is still dripping down me.

I'm not sure how I feel about these swanky Japanese 'western' toilets. Its a very strange feeling when it starts blasting water up your bum. I guess I'll get used to it though.

Having an early night tonight. I've been awake for 27 hours now. I don't want to sleep too early though because I'll wake up too early and my sleep pattern will be out. If I sleep at normal Japanese bed time then I should hopefully avoid jet lag.

Tomorrow's plan: exploring the city of Tokyo.

Sayounara!

Me and Natalie have made it safe and sound to Moscow and are awaiting our flight to Japan. Flight here wasn't too bad, but that was just the short one. Now for the long flight!

We're due to land in Japan 10am local time so no doubt we'll be jet lagged to buggery!

We can't leave the airport here, so there's not much to do. Luckily free wi-fi access helps to pass the time. Now where's all that Russian vodka...?

Me and Natalie are off to Japan on Friday for over 2 weeks touring the country. I'm so, so excited!

We're visiting Tokyo, Nagano, Matsumoto, Takayama, Kanazawa, Hiroshima, Kurashiki, Kyoto, and Yokohama. I'll hopefully be keeping my LiveJournal up-to-date on our travels and let you know all the exciting things I discover.

Am I seriously the only gay guy who doesn't bum Glee? I feel so left out, yet I can't bring myself to watch it. That last ounce of heterosexuality in my veins wont let me!