Another year has drawn to a close, a chapter in my life finishing, and another about to start with the advent of 2010.
Here’s a short pictorial overview of some of the great stuff we’ve been upto here in Japan from when I got here in mid-December up until New Years Day 2010.
Please feel free to comment at the end by clicking on “Comments”.
When I first got to Japan, after the drama of my flight being cancelled by Jetstar (and ruining a bunch of plans), we had a combined welcome party for both myself, and the latest JET program teacher and his family who were visiting.
His girlfriend came a few day later and we had another party, with Japanese curry for dinner.
As Christmas was coming and my mum had given the family a gingerbread house as a present, we, together with a friend, built our very first gingerbread house!!
And a triumphant group after finishing!
We had Christmas dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Lots of fun!
Fun for everyone!
After christmas we gave the doghouse a makeover and painted it pink!
It suits her!
My birthday was up next. We went to a nearby hotel where we went for a hike in the beautiful mountains and used their onsens, which faced the mountains and the bay.
We also had a special blowfish dinner (yes the poisonous kind the chef needs a license for). Yum! And we’re still alive 
And the birthday cake! When it is cut, it makes little heart shapes! Cute and smart (and tasty!)
We then went to Matsue in Shimane and stayed at a hot spring hotel, Cho rakuen (長楽園). This place has the largest natural outdoor onsen, and it is mixed bathing, which is fairly unique for Japan.
It also has great food. Here’s us having a special set dinner.
We’re in our own special dining room.
Great food and drink.
And here’s the food. This was the first course. There were several other courses as well consisting of lobster and fish.
And the Sashimi platter. Did I mention Sashimi? YUM!
And after all the eating. This is the entire family, including grandmother and great-aunt.
We had a cold change come through and it started snowing!
One other great thing about the hotel is that we were staying in the suites. Which had their own private onsen per room.
I loveeeee hot springs. At our overnight stay I went 7 times into the hotsprings. Which is quite a lot, but it’s soooo good!
Driving back was a little scary with all the roads snowed over. Several feet of snow in places!
And a family photo as we were leaving.
We came back on New Years Eve, in time to have some soba and sushi for dinner, as well as watch the special NHK New Years Eve TV show.
New Years Day is big in Japan. We went to the temple and then came back for brunch.
And everyone welcomes in 2010.
Including shin-shin.
2010 has just begun. A new chapter with lots of new and exciting adventures awaiting.
Wishing everyone a safe, prosperous and happy new year for 2010.
January 1st,2010
Food,
Japan,
Travel | tags:
birthday,
christmas,
Food,
hot springs,
hotel,
Japan,
onsen,
photos,
restaurant,
sashimi,
snow,
Travel |
1 Comment
When you’re travelling overseas sometimes you have to resort to withdrawing money from your home country credit/debit card and deal with the poor exchange rate and the fees and charges they like to slap on. We recently ran out of money so we had to do an emergency withdrawal and ran into a world of pain.
Here’s a little advice on which cards to bring if you want to use them in Japan.
Mastercard is useless.
And Maestro (your normal ATM card) is just as bad.
Visa is the way to go. Accepted in more places overseas. Their ads are actually true. In China it was also easier to use Visa than Mastercard (but that was before the Olympics, not sure what the situation is since).
Many hotels and large department stores will accept both Mastercard and Visa, however, if you want to withdraw money from an ATM (which is a better idea as the bank charges you a fee each time you use your card overseas, as well as a % of the amount as a fee for currency exchange) it is virtually impossible to withdraw using Mastercard or Maestro.
If you want to withdraw money from the local 7-11 (which are everywhere), they only accept Visa. If you go to the ATM inside a shopping centre, they only accept Visa (if they accept foreign cards at all). The Mastercard ATM locator said that there were bank ATMs (located in/near banks) that did Mastercard but they were out of the way and inconvienent to get to. Whereas 7-11’s are everywhere.
So that’s my rant.
And if someone from the Commonwealth Bank reads this, please consider offering debit Visa cards instead of just debit Mastercard. I’ll have to keep my St George account with its debit Visa card open until Commbank changes its mind.
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas from Japan!
December 25th,2009
Japan | tags:
christmas,
Japan |
No Comments
Sorry guys, I haven’t been posting much lately.
My trip here is unfortunately wrapping up, so I’m trying to make the most of the time I have here by getting out and about, and at the moment I’m spending all my computer time working on a report, leaving close to zero time for fun time on the net and blogging.
If you guys have any specific requests for presents from Japan, tell me now by e-mailing me or using the contact form above =)
Take it easy 
February 6th,2009
Japan,
Site News |
1 Comment
Have a great Year of the Ox!
The long awaited photos taken during my surprise birthday present from Kasumi have arrived. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so here’s my essay.
This is my favourite photo. I think it’s pretty clear why.
Click here to read the rest of this post »
As we were leaving Matsuyama, we went to the Ehime Art Gallery where there was an exhibition of Kazuo Oga, the (or one of) main background artists for Studio Ghibli. We saw some amazing drawings, over 600 of them, from Ghibli movies like Ponyo, Porco Rosso as well as works for other projects. I also made friends with Totoro
Click here to read the rest of this post »
Just an update about how the blog works.
I’ve changed it so that each post on the main page only shows an excerpt and sometimes the first (few) pictures. This is to prevent you having to load dozens of pictures each time you visit the site for updates.
To read the whole post, either click the title of the post, or click on the “Click here to read the rest of this post” link at the end of the excerpt.
Just another way we’re working to make your life easier.
I’m off to Okonomiyaki for lunch now =)
Detailing my superb experiences last week in Shikoku, the smallest of the 4 main islands of Japan, whereby I stayed in a 5 star hotel, enjoyed my first onsen, which happened to be the oldest in Japan, visited my third castle, became a samurai and ate some of the best food in Japan.
Click here to read the rest of this post »
Being the fourth account of my travels between Christmas and New Years, and being concerned with my initial encounters in Tokyo, including some Cosplay.
Click here to read the rest of this post »
