Japan travels pictures!

So after a long break, I will be uploading some pictures from traveling around Japan, finally!

Although, first I still have some other pictures to post...


This is a picture from when Rebeca made Puerto Rican food - it was really good. I don't remember the name of the guy on the left, but continuing on, after me is John, Sawako, and Rebeca (Toshi took the picture).


This is from a couple days later, when I went skiing with Toshi, Pyon, and another guy whose name I don't remember. This is at Eboshi ski lodge.


Here is Toshi, on the ski lift.


And this is from a week or two after that, going skiing with guys from my lab, at Yamagata Zaou! Zaou is huge, there were a ton of different slopes. I think I've gotten addicted to skiing in Japan - the snow is a lot more powdery, which at first was annoying, but once I learned to ski in it, it was a lot of fun.


Scenery from the ski lift.

More scenery - here you can see that it is getting high enough that trees are turning into jyuuhyou (in english, it is usually translated to ice monster) - see below for more information.


Close up of the jyuuhyou - these are trees at the very top of the mountain. They are covered in snow until they bend over, and then blown by strong winds - and this is the shape they turn into!


Everyone posing for a picture - but with goggles on, I can't tell who is who! I think that from the left, it is: Ichiki-san, Takahashi-san, me, Nishigaki-san, Okada-san, and Baba-san.


A mostly buried Buddhist statue at the top of the mountain.


The next day I hung out with Rebeca and two of her friends that came to visit from Nagoya - so we of course had to have Sendai's specialty for lunch - cow tongue!


While walking around Sendai, we saw these people walking around in cigarette costumes, picking up cigarette butts. The back says 'Let's stop that dangerous walking while smoking!'. The dangerous part probably refers to an incident that happened in Tokyo - on a really crowded street, a guy who was smoking while walking put his hand down at his side, and the lit end poked a child in the eye.


Here is everyone at dinner that night - me, John, Yuu, Nia, Frederick, Rebeca, Yuuko, and Jasmine.


This was at a banquet given for foreign exchange students who were graduating in March (and other foreign exchange students were invited). Chris gave a memorable speach on our behalf which included some line about us getting to know the nomihodai before anything else in Japan (all you can drink, alcoholic, you pay for a certain amount of time).


This is at a place called U-Para - it is filled with video games, an indoor soccer place, pool tables, darts, karaoke, bowling, etc. You just pay a certain amount per hour, so it is pretty fun.

And yes, this is a game where you have to walk a dog. Only in Japan.


Albert, curled up in the egg chair.


Having dinner at the professor house, the night before I left to go traveling. Much sake was involved. Ignoring me, from left to right is: Okada-san, Hatakeyama-sensei, Hatakeyama-sensei's wife, and Takahashi-san.


Pretty much the same picture, but this time Ichiki-san is in it. Okada-san moved to a different lab, and Ichiki-san and Takahashi-san to different schools - which is sad, because they were all people that I talked to! Now the only people left in the lab who talk to me are Nishigaki-san and Katou-san!


Finally! Let the traveling begin! Teres and John watching amusing Japanese TV at the airport.

Osaka!

The claw games are popular in Japan, since there are a lot of arcades, but this was the first time I had ever seen one where you catch a live animal/your dinner. Yes, in this one they have giant shrimps that you have to try to catch.


A love hotel! Always pretty easy to recognize.

After checking into the hostel, we went to buy tickets for sumo! All the banners are for different sumo wrestlers who were participating.


We had no idea what this was - it was on the top of the gym where the sumo matches took place. Turns out, when we were leaving, the day we went to see the matches, a guy was up there beating a drum. Though I'm still not sure why.


Story to this picture: In Sendai, there is a building with very reflective windows on your way downtown, and there are always people there, using it as a mirror to practice dancing. Then we got to Osaka, and they had the same thing! Except they have actual mirrors.


Stewardess themed love bar?place?. We were getting weird looks from all the Japanese passing by here. Probably because we were taking pictures of this.


Russell looks excited.


The canal, as seen from a bridge in Nanba.


Pictures from inside one of the ferris wheels we rode! It was really cool - after getting in at the bottom, the part of the cage that the seats were in spun around so that we could see the view. It was really cool.


Teres and John, in the ferris wheel.


View from the ferris wheel. (Front)


View from the ferris wheel. (Back) Front view wins.


The cage is turning to let us out!


One of the famous places in Osaka - the Glico sign. I don't know why. Most Japanese don't seem to know either.


Ah, english writing is on so many products in Japan, and always so interesting. 'Plastic - Convenience of our lives might damage our environment.'


First dinner in Osaka is pizza? At least it is pizza with squid on it!


Nanba by night! (By the way, I didn't explain it earlier, but Nanba is a part of Osaka that is known for being a good night spot, lots of restaurants and shopping.


The Statue of Liberty in a part of Nanba called America Town.


John posing.


Subway on the way home. It reminded me of the airport in Chicago (I think that's where it was, but I don't really remember.)

And that is the end of day one! Will update more later, but for now, I have to get ready to go out with some friends for sushi!

Still catching up...

Okay, so last night I made it as far as leaving for Hokkaido. If you haven't read that post yet, you might want to. Or you might not. Chronologically it comes first though.


Entertainment on the ferry to Hokkaido.


Map showing the current location of the ferry (We were still just outside of Sendai, which is the red dot that the ship is next to. The red dot at the top of the map is Tomakomai, in Hokkaido, where we were going, and the one at the bottom is Nagoya.)


Karaoke on the ferry.


Me on the ferry.


The stairs on the ferry.


There was even an onsen on the ferry. I like traveling by ferry in Japan.


Attempting to take pictures of the sunrise.


Scenery from the train ride from Tomakomai to Sapporo.


Sapporo Yuki Matsuri! (Sapporo snow festival!) Sculpture based on an anime, I think. Or a commercial.


Penguins!


The words at the bottom say "Youkosou! Sapporo Yuki Matsuri e", which means "Welcome! to the Sapporo Snow Festival".


We had no idea what this was supposed to be.


So I took a picture of the sign for later translation. It says "Entry No. 4 - Charged with living life as ourselves - Alternative School Shibe". So we conclude that it is not actually supposed to be something we would recognize.


Sign reads "Ice Square".


Japanese people really seem to like Disney characters, especially Mickey and Lilo & Stitch.


Characters based on oden (a Japanese stew of sorts, with various different ingredients that you can choose from) and the television tower in Sapporo?


Doraemon! Japanese cartoon character, famous for having a pocket from which anything can be pulled out. The sign reads "Bullying Solution Pocket! - This is a pocket chock full of ideas on how to solve bullying. [I'll] give them to you too! - (Some society having something to do with kids who stammer, I think. I can't figure that part out)". Bullying is a big issue in Japan right now - there was recently a student who sent a letter to the government and the school, saying that if someone didn't do something to stop the bullying by a certain date, they were going to kill themselves.


Advertising for a place that specializes in Gingis Khan - a specialty of Hokkaido, which involves roasting lamb and vegetables.


This sculpture was really impressive.


So detailed!

Samurai Cat.


Posing with the Japanese girls we made friends with on the train!


Me and one of the girls whose names I can't remember...


Aquatic theme! This was much bigger than it seems in this picture.


Kind of hard to see, but this was Disney themed, with Stitch playing a prominent part.


Ice house.


Words read "Milk Land Hokkaido" (Hokkaido is famous for being where a lot of milk, butter, ice cream, etc. comes from. Kind of like Wisconsin.)


Full picture of the sculpture I was standing in front of before.


Probably one of the only chances a person will ever have to snowboard off a jump in the middle of hugely populated city.


Japanese castle. Also very impressive.


Dan and Zhou Peng , posing.


In the process of making a sculpture.


Americans posing in front of the Statue of Liberty.


Chinese in front of the Chinese Phoenix.


Igloos where you can buy alcohol.


Red words say Hina Matsuri (another Japanese festival which takes place on 3/3, and celebrates daughters, I think).


The next day, at another part of the Snow Festival - tubing!


Field of snowmen, all made be people who came to the festival.


The snowman Colin and I made. Sign says "'I wish I had a mouth.' Mmmm... (Kuchi ga hoshii...)".


Snow maze! We did girls vs. guys to see who could get through it first, but unfortunately the girls lost. T_T


Curling! My team (Teres, Colin, and I) won! Without much help from me though. I, apparently, am not very good at curling.


I liked this sculpture - the mice are cute.


I have trouble reading all of this sign. It is from the front of the Sapporo Beer Museum. I do know that it says something about beer made from wheat and hops.


Famous sight in Sapporo - lettering says 'Sapporo Beer'.


Everyone in front of the Sapporo Beer Museum.

Sign translates roughly to "Men, silently, Sapporo Beer".


My cheese and soup curry flavored ice cream cone. Surprisely, not as awful as it sounds.

See below for more great flavors. (Most of these aren't normal flavors in Japan as far as I know - this was the only place I saw them. Don't blame all Japanese for these.)

Squid and salt flavored.


Cheese, soup curry, and the more normal flavors of green tea and sesame.


Lavender, Corn, and then Black Beer and Apple.

On to Otaru!
The Otaru Snow and Light Festival!


Giant Snow flake.


Cave(snow)men.


Let's go camping!


Sign reads 'Grand Cross'. Unfortunately, this is where my battery died again, so I will have to get pictures from other people.


Glassblowing! We got to make our own cups! Colin was first.


The assistants attached the handle though.


Me, making my cup.


Switching poles so I can form the top of the cup.


For some reason this green thing with a bulging crotch is all over Hokkaido, like a mascot or something. I was very confused.


The musicbox shop and the steam powered clock outside of it.


Close-up of the steam clock.


Photo from the train on the way back to Sapporo.


There was nowhere to sit on the train, except the floor.


Was this the last time Chris ever visited my window?! Now I live on the 5th floor, and he lives on the 1st(still)! I believe that in this picture he is feeding my leftover curry to Stan and Randy, outside the window.

I will post this for now. Coming up next: the rest of spring vacation!