Some delays

Ok, So I'm back on US time and in work mode for the summer, which means getting up early and working Monday-Thursday (Hurray for paychecks!). I spent many hours this weekend going through all of my photos from the trip and selecting the ones to show to people. I trimmed it down to about 10% of all my photos. That being said, it is still 1,006 pictures. (It took a long time, and I didn't even look in the folders that I got from other people. They are all from my camera alone.) So this morning I started the long process of uploading them to photobucket because I didn't feel like creating 8 new facebook albums. (Facebook albums have a 200 photo maximum). Upon my return this evening I find that I have reached my storage limit on photobucket and that only about half of the photos actually got uploaded. You can view what actually made it here on my photobucket album I'll figure out what to do with the rest of them..... some time soon. But probably not during the work week. Until then, enjoy your summer days.

~Daniel

Transfer

I have just started transferring 109GB worth of my japan pictures from my laptop to my external hard drive. That is a lot of pictures. I'll be going through them slowly and posting them up either here or somewhere else that I will link to. And now that I'm home, hopefully I'll be able to post up some of the videos I made. It's going to take a while though, so don't expect anything immediately. I am also still rather jet lagged. My body is still waking up at 7:00am Japan time. which is like 3pm here. Hopefully I'll be able to fix it within a day or two..... Hopefully.

~Daniel

Home!

Due to the lack of free internet at the Tokyo airport, I was unable to do a large post like I had planned. However, I am now safely home and that large post is going to be put off until more pressing concerns are taken care of. Like unpacking and laundry and filling out paperwork that needs to be filed before I start work.

~Daniel

Up since 3:30, but totaly worth it.

I just wanted to share a couple photo's that I took at the Fish market this morning (you have to get there really early if you want to see the cool stuff).

So here we have an enormous tuna.

(Click to embiggen)

And here I'm having fun with my sushi. My delicious, super fresh, and rather inexpensive sushi.

(Click to embiggen)

Behold my Sushi Mustache!

Heading home in the morning. First hurdle is making it to the airport with all my gear.

~Daniel

Tokyo!

Just wanted to let you guys know that I'm too busy having fun here in Tokyo to do a long update. Expect one from the airport tomorrow though.

First time

So for the first time in my life, I have traveled totally on my own by some way other then car bike or by foot. I am now safely in Tokyo in K's House backpackers hostel (Though how I'm traveling isn't really backpacking at this point, I've got way too much stuff for that). It was not a direct trip here though. No that would have been too easy. Though my detour was pre-planned and much looked forward to. Allow me to explain....

So rather then taking the bus from Minami Alps straight to Shinjuku in Tokyo, I had Kazu drop me off at Shiozaki station (the local station). As I stared blankly at the ticket machine I realized how poorly planned this venture of mine was, as I had neglected to look at the train routs or schedules. I was in fact backtracking my route of arrival 2 and a half months ago from memory. I purchased a ticket from the little machine in order to get to Kofu station which was just two stops up the line. I apparently purchased the wrong ticket though, but it didn't cause much of a problem. (the conductor just put the cost of what I had already paid for the wrong ticket towards the price of the correct one.) From Kofu I took the local line to the Fuji station, where I transfered trains and headed for Shizuoka station, which was my intended destination.

Upon my arriaval at Shizuoka I shoved my bags into a coin locker (an ordeal unto itself) and immideatly realized that I didn't have the coinage necessary to lock it. So I stood around with one arm shoved into the locker holding my bags in place and waited somebody to pass by that was likely to have change. My help came in the form of a group of old ladies. They kindly exchanged my 1000 yen note for a 500 yen coin and five 100 yen coins. I shoved the locker closed, put in the coins, and got the key, and then proceeded to thank the ladies. Now down to just one bag instead of 3, I set out for what I was seeking. After asking the information center I found that it was one station back at Higashi Shizuoka Staion (East Shizuoka Station. It is common for large stations to have smaller ones near by that run the local trains.) So 140 yen got me up the line to where I needed to go. And at last I was able to lay my eyes on something I've been wanting to see, but thought I had missed entirely. THIS
Do you see those legs and the set of arms in the scaffolding? That is the start of the Gundam Statue that I so despratley wanted to see. It previously stood on Odiaba Island in Tokyo bay. And I dragged my dad all the way back to Tokyo mainly so I could see this thing. But once we arrived we found that it had been dismantled, but was going to be rebuilt here. When Dad and I were headed to the Orchard from Kyoto I picked a route that brought us through Shizuoka station, only to find that it wasn't going to be up until July. But what I didn't know was that they had to actually build this thing piece by piece like you would a building. As it turned out, they started construction about 2 weeks ago. Many thanks to Tim for sending me the link alerting me to its present construction and allowing me to make the most of the opportunity. So even though it is incomplete, I can now cross "see the life sized gundam statue" off of my list of stuff to do before I die.

From there, I paid another 140 yen to get back to Shizuoka station, grabbed my bags and purchased my ticket to Tokyo. I grabbed a bento box and some bread for lunch and hauled all my gear up to the platform. The train ride was pleasantly uneventful and I got a good amount of reading done. However as I was pulling my bags off the rack as we pulled up to Tokyo station misfortune struck in the form of my beloved bracelet breaking, dropping many of the beads. Most of them landed on the seat below but I had to scrounge on the floor as fast as I could for the rest. (The trains do not stop very long so I was pressed for time). From the train station I took a taxi to the bank that is very near the hostel I'm staying at. (It's around the corner fortunately, So I didn't have to lug all my crap very far.) Upon arriving I checked in, showered, and purchased a small coin purse in which to keep the beads from my broken bracelet. I seem to have lost at least two beads. This is unfortunate because I do not know where to get replacements of the same type. I suppose I shall have to repair it with beads of a different sort, and that will serve as a reminder to what happened on this trip, making my bracelet a little more interesting.

At any rate, so begins my brief stay in Tokyo. Tomorrow I'm meeting up with one of the girls that was at Nakagomi Orchard for a few days. and she is going to show me around Shibuya and Harajuku, It should be fun. Tanoshimini shitteimasu (Translation: I'm looking forward to it) I'll be home in 4 days.

A brief segway

I had forgotten that Asians have uniformly straight hair. Apparently the three girls from Hong Kong had thought that I had gone to a salon to get my hair curled. They were also wondering how I had managed to keep it curled for 2 months without ever going back to get it worked on. They didn't believe me when I told them "This is just what my hair looks like normally". So as proof I didn't brush my hair after my shower the following day and showed them. They were rather amazed, which I found funny since for me it's so normal.

At any rate, here are some of those kitten photo's I promised.

(Click the images to embiggen)

As well as a couple other ones I took on our last day off. I got to go back to Heidi's Village, but this time it was warm and sunny so I was able to take a bunch more pictures. No tulips this time though (I guess they're out of season now), they were in the process of planting roses. However I did get to ride this....
Yeah, that's a segway. I got to ride it around the place for 45 minutes, and it was awesome.

Here are some other photo's of the fun that I had.

WEEEEEEEE!
This was probably specifically forbidden by the sign posted at the front. But I cant read Kaji, so i took advantage of my position as a "Gaijin" (foreigner) and went ahead and did it anyway.

This is everybody that went with on this little outing.
Left to right, top to bottom: Leah, June, Sasha, Charlotte, Sara, Nataly, Aki, Daniel (Myself), Nicolas.

The roses were quite nice and smelled great.
In fact, they smelled good enough to eat....

I uploaded a bunch more to my new facebook album. (because facebook only allows 200 photos.) so feel free to go and check those out. And don't be afraid to leave comments. (Here or on facebook) I like reading them.

~Daniel

Chisai neko

The kittens have been growing rapidly and have been getting playful. The crate they were in was too small for them too. So now that the weather is nice and warm, we have moved them out to the Cat House (One of the cherry green houses named so for the wooden structure that Kazu's other cat lives in) We barred the door and opened up the roof and set the kittens in there. The Cat House is about 6 times bigger then their crate so they now have enough room to play around. Mini Mike can also now watch over them. Once he realized they were there he just kinda plopped himself down in the box and watched them. He licks them whenever they wander close enough, so hopefully he'll be teaching them how to clean themselves fully over the next few days. They have been eating less frequently lately (Which is what is supposed to happen) and are capable of eating solid food. As in true Japanese, style the first solid food they have eaten is fish. (I need to tell Kazu to pick up some kitten food or something.) Due to customers for the past two days, we kept the kittens inside the Cat House itself, but today I think we might be able to let them out and explore. I'll post up some photos once I get around to pulling my card out of my camera and uploading photos.

~Daniel

Ninja Stroll

I just took a nice night time walk to one of the vending machines up the road by myself. It was nice just kind of walking by myself and listening to the sounds of the canal and the occasional car. The sky was cloudy so I couldn't see any stars, but the air was pleasantly cool. The kind of weather that you could be comfortable in anything between long pants and a light jacket to shorts and a t-shirt. And now I'm enjoying the evening with a cold soda and the cool breeze wafting in through the screen doors to my room. It's a nice evening here in Yamanashi.

The rest of the day was pretty good to. Nicolas and I finished all the weed whacking that needed to be done. We set up some tent structures that will be used by the customers. For dinner we had sushi and soba noodles. And then I got to sit on the couch with the girls and laugh at the funny photos I've taken of them.

Yeah, today was a good day. I'm kinda sad that I only have a week left of this life. But I suppose evenings like this are what make this short time so memorable. That and all the photos (So many photos).

Well, we have tomorrow off. Not positive what I'm going to be doing, but may end up going back to Lake Kawakujiko. Who knows. But for now, probably bed time. Good night.

~Daniel

sub note: The title of this entry belongs to whoever it is that runs 'Anime Hell' at Fanime and is not an original creation (Sorry, just don't want to be sued for copyright infringement or something).

Photo filled update of Doom.... and stuff.

Ok, so......
I've got a ton of pictures to upload and I'm hoping that the connection will stay up long enough to complete them. Out of the 600 and something photo's that I've taken since my last batch, I chose 54 to share. I'm uploading them all to my facebook album (It automatically compresses the files so it doesn't take too terribly long to upload, even on this connection). I will however share and talk about a few of them here for your convenience and my own satisfaction of being able to write about them. As always, Click the image to embiggen.

To start with, This is a shoe box that is in the entryway to Yoko's house.
The implications of this shoe box in Japan are probably significant and certainly confusing.

These are the three girls that we had from Singapore. They were only here for three days, but they were a ton of fun. It took me two days to get their names straight though. (The girls from left to right: Cindy, Ashleigh, Cassandra (I'm pretty sure I got that right))
As you may have guessed, this photo needs a bit of back story. In case you don't know me personally, I'm fairly strong. A lifetime of lifting plants and pottery for my mother's business, combined with my size allows me to lift up quite a bit without too much effort. This is apparently not common in Asia. It seems any time I pick up something heavy, the people watching see it as some kind of amazing feat of strength. (I have actually been called Hercules since I've been here) In general I tend to think of women as being fairly light (at least for my standards) but Asian women tend to be smaller then the American girls that I'm used to, so I find them incredibly light. I found myself wondering how hard it would be to pick up all 3 of these girls at once. They didn't think I could do it. They were convinced that they were too heavy. I thought otherwise. They were kind enough to let me test it. (And of course I wanted to get it on camera.) Although the picture doesn't show it, I am lifting all three of these girls off the ground. One of them is latched onto my back, and I'm lifting the other two with one arm each. They seem to be enjoying themselves, but I can't be sure....

The cherries are getting riper and riper every day
Some of the cherries are actually ripe now, this picture is a week or so old. We have had a few samples and they are delicious. The orchard is also now accepting customers. We had our first ones yesterday.

This is just a nice cloud shot I took.
We had spent all day working in the grapes at the base of this picture, so this was a nice little reward after the days work.

We had a nice lunch in the shade with a view of Fuji.
We also had a lawn chair that I took full advantage of. (There was a nice breeze going on too)

Once again my beard became a temporary home for a few flowers.
It was a group endeavor.

Same day as the last two pictures. Yet again, a nice view of Mt. Fuji.
This one was taken from the balcony on the second floor of Kazu's house in the morning, before breakfast.

That's all for now, If you want more check out my Facebook album. (Now up to the 2oo picture maximum. I don't know if i got lucky and met the exact number, or if it deleted some of the old ones. Let me know if you notice any pictures missing.)

~Daniel

Wrap this one around your head.

So It looks like It's still going to be a day or two before I get the time to do a huge update. I've just been having a bit too much fun to want to sit down and work on the computer for the 2 hours necessary. For instance, Today we spent an hour or two trying to get this thing on my head.

The girl in the picture next to me is a Sikh from Finland named Sara. (She belongs to a very very small religious minority in Finland. Its a small fraction of that tiny little 'other' wedge of the pie chart) I have never had the oportunity to talk to a Sikh so I've been asking her a lot of questions. (Mostly about the turban) Apparently It takes like 6 months of practice to be able to tie it on your own and still have it look good. I asked if she could show me how to tie it, and she very kindly agreed. The process took about 10 minutes. After attempting to tie one on myself using my sarong she offered to loan me one of her pieces of cloth (Her's are about 5 meters long and 8 inches wide my sarong is about 5'x3'). However since I don't have long hair, I couldn't tie it in the same way she did. Her hair is actually wrapped into the turban, which is what keeps it in place. Lacking that anchor, we didn't have much luck getting the cloth to stay in place while we were wrapping it around my head. After many failed attempts by myself and Sara and about 3 other people I finally managed to figure out something that worked. After we got the one end firmly attached to my skull, I let Sara finish the wrapping which resulted in the above. Obaa-chan was much amused.

So yeah, Fun stuff this evening. If you know about my tendency to wear bandannas, they you can probably guess how happy this made me. It was one of those times where my cheeks were hurting because I was smiling too much. But rest assured, on my next boring night I'll give you guys lots of pictures, and a long update. But I have no idea when that will be, so please be patient, sorry.

~Daniel