Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Miki d'Japan

Weekend in Japan-sounds a bit crazy, but I did it. With "a little" (in fact substantial) help of my friends, I did it... And it was magnificent. Keiko of Chiba, Kaori&Gergo of Japan/Budapest, and Svjetlana of Dublin/Teslic gave the magic Power to the event :-).
Logistics in Taiwan provided by Meiyunn and Monlysa, who found and organised the cheaper tickets for me 2 days before the flight... magic, I say! [btw. for those who are interested to know what's 'cheaper': 370 eur return flight. The line HKong-Taipei-Tokyo, it takes about 3 hrs from Taipei by B-747].
As I had really only weekend +flights, I saw 'only' Tokyo, but then, it is certainly not 'only'.
But, let's start with ilustrations, I again made some almost 300 pics...
Here is one of my 1st views of Japan, Kyushu island from the air. It is from some 12500m.
prvjap

One nice cloud, making its hair...although my 1st association was much less romantic.
ob

prvjap

In Japan, as in Taiwan, wires are abundant, one of biggest differences to petty europe in the streets:
zice

But, then you see monorail
monor

and some views of Tokyo
vt

and know you are in some other world.
zgr

No comments are needed, I think:
most

Here a view to the Tokyo harbour:
luka

Quite futuristic, ah? It is TV building...
futur

But we were bored and went to New York... ;-)
ny

It was quite crowdy, some events in and around the TV house, some stars were to appear and there were lots of programmes for kids. Different to Taiwan, in Japan children seem to be more visible, maybe a bit more kids-friendly environment-but, then, with this level of infrastructure, it is in generel humans-friendly. Only the small apartments would be a real obstacle for any European to even think about kids. Hokkaido seems to be a good solution :-).
crowd

A bit more of futuristic feeling-this is a turistic boat on the pier below the TV house-Svjetlana posted the right question: 'It goes underwater?'
br

Pier:
pier

(Im)possible communication network of Tokyo-there lives 13mln people in something what we could, maybe, call The City. And if we add some nearby surrounding we have 33mln. Umhhh. Still trying to compare to anything known?
com

Here my only association was Hagia Sophia from Istanbul
haja

[Alan Ford: Neki sretnici zive kraj vode...]
v1

v3

[a kraj vode zive i neki manje sretni...]
v2

It seems it is possible to make the living place in a tent in Tokyo, good idea for cheap accomodation in Japan when you go backpacking :-). Btw. no dirty beggars in these tents, although live (literally) under the bridge, they are neat and clean as japanese houses.
This combination of the Asahi beer company is to represent glass of beer and a bit out of it...
asahi

OK, you are waiting for something traditional, yes? Temples (buddhistic) are different then these in Taiwan, from the very entrance, compare with my Taiwanese posts.
t1

Meeting out of the bounds of expected, with Svjetlana we maybe meet one day on Mars, as we started (Frankfurt, Kolan, Tokyo, ...?):
turizam

Keiko, simply a gem!
keija

We went to eat to some nice place...I understood how it is possible that these people consider (Chinese also) fish CHEEKS one of the most tasty foods: if the fish is big enough, it is lots of meat there...
glava

Gergo, a Budapestan Japanese, is to stay here in Japan, hehe, I will be happy to visit Kaori and him one day in Hokkaido, where they'll live happily, surrounded with a bunch of few merry kids. I wish them all the best!
gerija

Mario, do not watch!-we went to the electronics market in Ahikabara sunday morning with Svjetlana. No comments, you know what I would say! In some 2 years maybe you'll be happy enough to see what I saw yesterday! Prices, however, are not so much lower than in Taiwan. Only that in Tokyo everywhere you can find 2GB USB flash disk and in Taiwan it is not yet so common. Laptops are in the same price as in Taiwan. Photo equipment is abundant, but prices are not too much different from these in Taiwan or Europe photo-markets.
mar

es

Would he accept few cpu's instead of money, what do you think?
beg

The main difference Taiwan/Japan is that here temples and shrines are more like museums, when in Taiwan they are always ALIVE.
muz

src="http://web.tiara.sinica.edu.tw/~miki/Blog/Jap/mm.jpg" alt="mm" />

But here we also found really religious experiences. This family ordered a pray in their name...
mol

One more friend :-)
pajja

Some of the temples/shrines (the 1st are buddhistic, and the 2nd shintoistic) are really old
old

This fish is poissonous, but tasty...blowfish. Only chefs with special permission can prepare it. It is so Japanese to make it a sculpture near the shrine.
fish

Interesting head-covered figure
crveno

and here more of them, Mediators, says Keiko, but they themselves have the Power to act, also
crveno2

A dream? Keiko wanted me to go to row these swans on the lake, but as you can imagine I was not willing to be SO much turistic.
dream

As we said, Tokyo is dense populated place. So, even golfers have to exercise in two floors
golf

Cars are also piled up:
cars

Tokyo by night, incredible crowd in Shibuya, the most crowded meeting place in the world: they say here is set the world record in the number of mobile phone connections at the same time, anything strange, mass was incredible.
tbn

Some nice views: Kimono in Shibuya is not at all anachronistic.
trad

There are some things around which seem more strange:
cudo

Girls in Japan are so jummmmmmmmmmmmmmmy!
gir

On the train to Narita, green fields of Tokyo, this you would not expect less than hour out of the centre :-)
grf

Suburbia, between Chiba and Narita. Btw. JR(=Japan Railways) line train to here from the centrum will cost you some 1200 yen (exchange rate was 100eur=13100yen).
sub

Beer magazin in Narita, old classical style of the house here out of Tokyo, said Keiko (her family is from Chiba)
mag

The biggest temple I saw there, Naritasan. Worth visit, for sure! It is on the way to the Narita airport, so you can it when departing!
naritasan

Interior of one of the temples:
olt

Classical pagoda:
pag

A bit less classical pagoda (as still new, but in 300 years it will also be 'classical'):
pag2

Cute, ah?
cute

There is also the park/forest near Naritasan, this temple is 'forgotten' there:
suma

Just nearby is this waterfall, I would be curious if it is natural or...? I could not decide.
vodop

Crowdy place, even for the water-turtles in this pond:
kor

Not only the religious content, but also the gardens and houses in Narita are beautiful!
nar

Time to go back, I had some magnificent sights from the plane, I will share them with you.
The coast off Tokyo-Yokohama harbour [Keiko corrects: it is the Kuju-kuri coast of "Chiba"!->thanks Keiko!]
yokoh

And some others:
luke

Fujiyama, the highest mountain in Japan:
fujiyama

It is a volcano, remember? In this pic the crater is visible.
f2

The definite proof I am an alien: pics during the landing of my UFO ;-)
ali

Just by chance (and even now my hair goes up) I was passing Hiroshima in this 'play' of sun and clouds. Peace to them all.
hirosh

Strange is to feel: " I came home" and it is about Taiwan...yes, one of my homes is certainly here!
flag

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