Japan Trains

How foolish of me to think that there is only one type of bullet train - the one that looks just like a bullet with a pointy first cart like this photo. No, there are many types!

One thing common with all of them is that they are virtually always punctual. They are always clean including their toilets. There is no train vandalism (no graffiti on the walls, inside and outside and no scratched windows). But there are some graffiti along the track on walls. The seats are very comfortable and reclines quite a lot (much more (comfortable) than seats on some budget airlines..).





On top of that, the ride is so smooth and very quick, always go with allocated seats if you can. Lots of room for baggage. We even saw this crew who had an instrument to measure how stable the train is. Never seen that before. Completely impressed with their quality control and demand for quality. BTW, the train crew's uniform is pretty cool too. Pay attention to big stamps like this at the train stations and tourist locations.

Luckily I didn't experience packed train like this.

Tokyo and Kyoto Towers at Night

Tokyo Tower, at 333m is the world's tallest self-supporting steel tower. It is even taller than Paris' Eiffel Tower which is 320m high.

The tower is usually red whether lit or not. But this time, it is multi-coloured to celebrate Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko's 50th wedding anniversary and because Japan is bidding for 2016 Olympics.

We went up to Roppongi Hills which offers 360 degrees city view from 250m above sea level.

Here is the famous "spider" outside. I am amazed how well it comes out in the pic dispite the low light condition. It does have a spot light on the underside of the spider. The belly looks like it is full with millions of little baby spiders inside waiting about to burst and shower on the unfortunate souls underneath... :o
Kyoto Tower in front of the Kyoto Train Station

Shinagawa Station from our hotel room window

Tokyo as dusk from Roppongi Hills

Shinjuku Gyoen (新宿御苑)

Apart from Sakura, there are plenty of other attractions at Shinjuku Gyoen (新宿御苑) - Carp fish or Koi fish, beautiful Japanese gardens, stone lantens, bridges and ponds and of course people. In fact, lots of people, out on picnic under the Sakura trees to enjoy the beauty and shade offered by the Sakura trees or just to soak up the warm spring sun. It was truly a beautiful picture.

This lady looks like she is wiping her tears away... Please let me assure you that there is nothing further from the truth. She is just putting some cream on, possibly sun screen. :)

Sakura (櫻花) - Shinjuku Gyoen (新宿御苑)

God was kind to us. Despite getting to Japan late for Sakura, we saw wonderful Sakura (Cherry Blossom) in the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden (新宿御苑).

The imperial gardens, which were once meant for the royalty, were completed in 1906, and destroyed in 1945, during the later stages of World War II. The jurisdiction over the Imperial Palace Outer Garden and the Kyoto imperial garden was transferred to the Ministry of Health and Welfare (now part of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) with Shinjuku Imperial Gardens in 1947.

It was on May 21, 1949 that the gardens became open to the public as "National park Shinjuku Imperial Gardens".

Covering 58 hectares, Shinjuku Gyoen is one of Tokyo's largest parks. It was opened to the public in 1949, after it had served as a garden for the Imperial Family since 1903.

Shinjuku Gyoen features three garden types: an English landscape garden with wide lawns, a traditional Japanese garden with teahouses and a symmetrically arranged, formal French garden. Furthermore, there are some forested areas and a greenhouse (the greenhouse is being reconstructed until 2011).

Shinjuku Gyoen is home to a large number of cherry trees of more than a dozen different species, making the park one of Tokyo's most popular and pleasant hanami spots during late March and most of April when Sakura is in its fullest bloom.

So many keen photographers turned up looking to catch a great pic of the Sakura. Man, Japanese loves photography and their cameras. It was a warm sunny day. We were showered upon by falling Sakura pedals. (pic.1) :)

Japan - here I come!

I have always thought visiting Japan is a really expansive exercise hence this is a real dream come true for me. For 17 days (plus 1 day of travelling), I got to experience and make sense of all the stuff I got to know and admire about Japan since a kid - the manga, the games, the music, the food, the trains, the ancient traditions, the war and the modern... A truly wonderful experience!

We started in Tokyo, landing late in the evening and got to the hotel and settled in close to mid-night. Like I came from a kampung remote island, I was already overwhelmed by the efficient train (and fare) system, massive amount of people and how well they dress, we got to our tiny hotel room. A Hong Kongese (or hongkonger) by birth, the hotel room did not feel too small to me and it was well equipped, very clean, very good complete with the infamous Japanese toilets with integrated bidet system.

It was a TOTO but the whole toilet bathroom is made by Hitachi. Our TV is Hitachi, I didn't know Hitachi builds anything other than electronics. How little do I know! On that note, I also found out that Kawasaki is making Shinkansen bullet trains, not just superbikes! Wait, there is more! The bathroom mirror doesn't fog up! Section of the mirror is actually heated. Amazing! This is not a good pic... Sorry for the mediocre attempt. I was afraid that moisture would get into the camera and cause mold or fungi to build up...

One minor disappointment or the only disappointment was that I couldn't find any robots during the tour. I would have loved to see the Toyota violin playing robot or the Honda Asimo Humanoid robot.

The Land of the Rising Sun

Spent over two weeks in Japan around the middle, and south west side of the country on a tour organised (not funded :P) by GAP adventures. What a fantastic time we had. We can't wait to go back again, probably to the north also next time and see Hokkaido.

It was really a photographer's dream because everything are photogenic. Apology to those annoyed by my shutter. The group was fantastic, fourteen of us plus our tour guide Alain. Five Australians including my wife and I (yes, we are Chinese looking Aussies).. Five Canadians (including our French Canadian tour guide), one English, one Welsh, one Swiss, one from Slovakia and one from Lithuania. All are wonderful people from all walks of life. The most popular profession was teaching. I have never had such a long excursion with teachers in my life! LOL.

We saw so much together and by ourselves when my wife and I were roaming around by ourselves in Tokyo. So much culture, so many temples, so many shrines, so many Torii Gates. Sakura (otherwise known as Cherry Blossom), traditional Japanese houses, bullet trains or otherwise known as the Shinkansen. People walking around in the city in traditional kimonos and the ultra modern everywhere in Harajuku that resembles manga characters such as in the popular game Final Fantasy, the tsunami of people in train stations and on the street during peak hours... made us duck out into a restaurant for at least a good half an hour in a side street... :P We also went to a baseball match, spring festival, saw a bit of traditional wedding, Geishas dance and tried out Onsen bath. What about Mount Fuji? We saw it at sunset as well as sun rise! Thank you Chris for waking us up. On the flip side, we visited the Cultural, Train and A-bomb museums, the last of which was a very emotional experience.

Food?! We had hips of Mochi, Sakura Mochi, Banana Mochi, Strawberry Mochi, Chocolate Mochi, Red Bean Mochi and of course Green Tea Mochi! Sushi, Tempura, Sashimi, Okonomiyaki, Udon, Ramen, Soba, cakes and breads and many others too exotic for me to remember or name. What about green tea? We had so much green tea, green tea cake, green tea chocolate, green tea buns, green tea ice-cream... even the body wash and shampoo were green tea scented! We had the best almond tofu we have ever had in a small local restaurant. Oyshii des!!

Oh, what about that Canadian water?! Thank you Barb, James and Marg! I slept so well that night. :)

I abstained from taking any pictures on the trip in order to maximise the experience, hence sorry, no photo here. Haha, what rubbish, I took quite a few photos and will post some of them shortly. Stay tuned.

To all my mates on the tour, Japan and the lovely butler at the Ryokan (Japanese style hotel) at Mount Fuji (Lake Yamanaka):

Arigato gozaimasu! ありがとうございます。