I left off going to bed the day before my father left. On the day my father left, we first checked out of the hotel. After that we went to see a festival/parade. My father got to watch all of it, but I only caught the first 15 minutes, because I had to meet my Couchsurfing host at 2PM. Here's the few pictures and videos I shot of the parade.
After the parade I met up with Junsei, my host for the night. After dropping off my bags at his place, he had to go back to university, so I went to eat something and explore the area surrounding Kyoto Station. When I got back to his apartment, we went to the Kurama Fire Festival together. A yearly festival that's all about fire. Here's the pics/videos:
Must've been cold wearing those outfits!
The people living in Kurama held parties outside of their houses.
We also went and had dinner at an interesting manga restaurant where they had a LOT of mangas you could read for free when eating.
The following morning he brought me to a spicy ramen place where I ate some of if not the best ramen of my life! SUPERdelicious!
After saying goodbye to Junsei, I got my stuff and went on to Nagoya with the Shinkansen(bullet train). Once I got there I was picked up by my next host Hikaru in his car. He lives in quite a big place (for japanese standards) in Nagoya. We went to eat Sushi and played some Cowtrade. The next day I had to leave quite early to be on time for my next appointment, because I had to go drop off my bags at my hotel first.
I ended up being 15 minutes late meeting Chihiro. We first had (free!!) delicious Udon noodles at the restaurant her mom works at! I hope you thanked your mom a 2nd time for me! (^_^) After that she helped me buy a Yukata and we went to an arcade, before she had to leave and go to work. Here's the pictures:
Best Udon I've ever had!
A small shrine in the middle of a shopping mall!
A temple in Osukannon in Nagoya
After that I relaxed at my hotel for about an hour, before I met up with Mika and her friend Midori. The friend turned out to be someone I had also spoken to on Couchsurfing, but had been unable to meet due to conflicting schedules. This way we ended up meeting afterall :D
We went to a restaurant called Yama-chan and ate Nagoya specialities and talked English and Japanese untill about 11PM at which point we all went home.
Some sort of chicken wings
SUPER FRESH SASHIMI!!! Watch the video!
Miso Katsu something I think
More delicious Sashimi
Something with Crab I think
Miso Tamago something delicious
Miso Katsu!
The 2 days after this, I spent my afternoon getting my clothes washed at the hotel, using my hotel's gym, getting super nauseous/unwell because I was out of shape and exploring a few areas in Nagoya on foot including Nagoya Station, Marunouchi and Sakae. Sakae is a very nice area, but the rest of Nagoya is just a bit more boring version of Tokyo. Last but not least, I ascended Nagoya TV Tower for a great city view:
Pretty good sushi! Sushiyo clearly beats Yo Sushi!
These 2 evenings I met up with Mika again. We went to her favorite restaurant on 1 night and a Halloween buffet the other night. She spoke much better English than I did Japanese, but she encouraged me to speak Japanese all the time, so 95% of our conversations were in Japanese. She also taught me more things about the Japanese language than anyone else(besides textbooks) have ever taught me. She taught me many helpful words and it was just AMAZING speaking practice! She's also a great conversation partner and it was very easy to keep a conversation going for hours on end. After these 3 days I clearly spoke MUCH better Japanese than before. The international parties in Tokyo were great practice, but having dinner with Mika was even better! Plus it was a lot of fun and we ate delicious food!
My last day in Nagoya I spent with Mika again. We went to a park outside of Nagoya where they collected old buildings. For example they had a medical research laboratory, hospital and dojo from a few hundred years ago. They took them from their original locations and moved them within the park.
Afterwards I walked home with Maya, talked for a bit more, eventually went to bed and said goodbye in the morning. Maya, thanks again for introducing me to your friends and taking such good care of me in Fukuoka! If I ever come back to Fukuoka we should meet up again!
Nagoya TV Tower
Nagoya Broadcasting Building
Nagoya Concert Hall
My last day in Nagoya I spent with Mika again. We went to a park outside of Nagoya where they collected old buildings. For example they had a medical research laboratory, hospital and dojo from a few hundred years ago. They took them from their original locations and moved them within the park.
Old Tatami house of a famous writer
Medical Research Laboratory
Salute!
Izakaya style food. The dessert on the bottom right side is top 3 desserts I've eaten in 2012!!!
Sukiyaki
Dojo
In the evening we met up with Midori again and ate at a fish restaurant. Midori and Mika, thanks again for showing me so much of Nagoya! I don't think I'll ever choose Nagoya as a place to live over Tokyo, but spending time with you in Nagoya was definitely one of the highlights of my trip! And Mika thank you SO SO much for what you've done for my Japanese speaking skills! Absolutely astonishing how much I improved in just a few days! Let me know if you ever have any questions about English and let me know when you come to London!!
SUPER delicious Sashimi. And it wasn't even Yellowtail season yet!
Sushi
Donburi
More delicious Sashimi
This is a slice of Tuna Tail, believe it or not. It wasn't bad, but I think I prefer raw fish.
Then on Sunday the 28th I left pretty early for Hiroshima. Right after arriving in Hiroshima and stepping out onto the streets, I saw this awesome spectacle!
I arrived at my host's Tatami Room a little after noon. Because I knew I couldn't spend much time in Hiroshima, but had a lot to do I left straight away. First up was the Peace Memorial Park and Museum and A-Bomb Dome. On my way to the Museum entrance I was approached by 2 elementary school kids, who started talking English to me and wanted to interview me! Super impressive! Right after the interview, another 6 elementary school kids from Osaka approached me for another interview, with some superdifficult questions. Like, what place is famous in my country of origin(the Netherlands). And what part of Japan is famous in Holland. Afterwards they gave me some cool Origami's and we all took a picture! Super awesome experience!!
After that I went on to the Peace Memorial Museum. The first thing that surprised me is that it only cost 50 cents! The museum was...what to say. I guess I'll describe it with a few comparisons. If I could visit all museum in the world or just this museum, I would pick this and it's not even close! I was truly moved by it all and felt very emotional at times. It's as simple as this. If you go to Japan, YOU HAVE TO go to the Peace Memorial Museum. If I had only been allowed to visit The Peace Memorial Museum or Sukiyabashi Jiro's 3-Michelin Star Sushi Restaurant, it'd have been a tough decision.
Famous A-Bomb Dome
Watch stopped at the exact time of the bomb exploding
Very impressive rebuilding within 18 months of something as huge as that!
I REALLY want to go to Hiroshima again someday to attend this ceremony!
Painting from an eyewitness
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Afterwards I rushed to the Food Festival. It was much bigger and better organized than the one I went to in London in May. Not only was entrance free, there were tons of places to actually sit down and more space in general. Plus some entertaining performances. Where I saw the people from the station performing for a 2nd time! If anyone knows the name of that group/guy let me know please!
The portions of the food were a little big, but I ate some pretty nice food. Yakisoba, Ramen, Sushi etc etc! Good stuff overall!!
Afterwards I met up with my host, ate Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki and talked for a bit, before heading to bed.
The next day I explored downtown Hiroshima. I walked through the entire city centre at least twice and I liked what I saw. Hiroshima is a very nice city and while it's hard to beat Tokyo, I definitely like Hiroshima second best so far as far as Japanese cities go! I also talked to some random people. A few kids started saying hello to me when I was sitting on a bench next to their playground, I talked with 2 guys sitting on a bench when I walked by and I stroke up a conversation with a girl at a Starbucks. All this after eating Sushi for lunch of course!
Quite good!
Taken from the 14th or something floor of the biggest department store I've ever seen.
Hypocenter of the A-Bomb
The following pictures are from the peace boulevard
At the end of the day I took the Shinkansen to Fukuoka to meet up with my host for the next 3 nights, Maya. We met at Fukuoka station and first of all had some special Fukuoka Ramen. After getting back to her apartment we talked for a bit more and then went to sleep.
The next day we went on a day trip to Yufuin together. A little town famous for it's onsen (hot springs). HOT with capitol letters! The baths in this onsen were extremely hot! The outdoor bath was okay as long as I cooled down every now and then by getting out of the bath, but after dipping my feet in the indoor bath, it started to hurt within 5 seconds! Nonetheless I spent an hour and a half relaxing in the onsen. We also ate lunch, walked through the town and talked a lot together on the train trip. 2 hours each way.
Waterfall on the way to Yufuin
These are pictures from a lake with half warm water, half cold water. Maya told me on some days there's a lot of steam rising up from this lake.
Shopping street
Ghibli/Totoro shop!!
Food we ate for lunch
Unagi!
After we got back from Yufuin, we went back to Maya's apartment. She had invited over a lot of her friends to make Takoyaki! It was lots of fun meeting her friends!
We all sucked, until Sachiko taught us how to properly make them.
Wednesday the 31st, Maya had to work, so I went exploring on my own. First I ate some sort of Ramen, but slightly different, from Maya's hometown for lunch. Quite good and superhealthy! Then I walked all the way to the other side of Fukuoka's city center, before taking the bus to reach Fukuoka Tower. The tower offered nice views, but was a bit smaller than the towers in Tokyo. Afterwards I ate some Sushi as a 2nd lunch before meeting up with Maya again at Hakata station.
Fukuoka Tower
Random Ferrari I saw in downtown Fukuoka. Just barely managed to take a picture, since it was accelrating very quickly!
Unsure how I managed to take such a nice picture with my crappy cellphone from a moving bus.
Possibly the best value meal I've ever eaten! Included 3 side dishes aswell. All of that for just 1000yen(10 euro, 8 pounds)!!! You can't even buy 2 O-Toro sushi pieces for that money in London!
I met up at the station with Maya and her friends. First of all we went to an all you can eat BBQ restaurant that also had all you can eat sushi. In the west this would 100% mean it's the shittiest, unfreshest sushi you've ever eaten and that'll you'll get sick eating it. The sushi at this restaurant was very good. There weren't a ton of choices(only 8 different fish), but it was quite good quality! Afterwards we went to a Karaoke place and sang for a few hours! I tried singing Gangnam Style with Japanese subtitles but failed miserably. The girls did quite well singing a couple of english songs and Manabu stole the show with his SICK SICK Karaoke skills! I was superimpressed!
Afterwards I took the Shinkansen to Osaka. I slept throughout the entire train journey, because I was exhausted. I managed to go eat some sushi in downtown Osaka after checking into my hotel, but it wasn't long before I went to sleep.
At 3500yen not the best value sushi ever, but it was decent quality. Especially impressive Sea Urchin, because I think it's the hardest piece of sushi to make. They got the amount spot on. If only they had had colder Sea Urchin and warmer seaweed, it would've been even better.
Today I've been waiting for my laundry to be delivered, updating my blog and just chatting to people. Just relaxing at my hotel. I can use a day off! I'll go shower now, get some food, chill some, go to bed and tomorrow go exploring and meet my hosts. 2 sisters living in Osaka!
Gogo last week in Japan!!!
It's so sad that any nukes were dropped. Amazing pictures. Thank you for posting.
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