In Japan, while Christmas is relatively not a big event, nor is it a public holiday, it is definitely in evidence. Shops are playing Christmas carols, decorations are everywhere and Christmas themed food is appearing on menus. We also lit the first fire of the season last night at our place, and there’s a lot of wood to chop today to make sure we have enough for the winter>.<

With the advent of winter (and maybe even a white xmas), we went to an “autumn leaf” viewing at the World Heritage site of Miyajima island. It is an amazing beautiful place and is the location of one of the “classic” Japanese views – the red torii gate standing on water. I highly recommend that anyone travelling through Hiroshima add it to their itinerary.

We all went on this trip, and as you can see in the picture, the autumn leaves are a little late this year, but are still beautiful.

Miyajima is one area in Japan famous for deer (Nara being the other main one). They are very tame and very cute!

The hotel we stayed at is over 150 years old. And certain areas have been preserved, such as the entranceway, which still has the original stones laid out.

Oyster season has started, and we’ve been enjoying fresh, big oysters (see my blog for more photos). They are quite different from the oysters I’ve had in Australia.

What was quite special about this visit to Miyajima was that we stayed the night on the island.

Staying overnight meant we were able to see the Torii gate lit up.

We had heaps of fun!

The onsen (hotspring) is a key part of any hotel experience in Japan for me. I ninja’d these shots inside the hotspring at the hotel we stayed at. Please excuse the poor photo quality. The onsen itself is an example of a nice average onsen in Japan, with both an indoor and outdoor component, and an area to wash yourself. And yes, you don’t wear anything when you’re inside, except for a small towel for your modesty.

The following week we had some friends over. This is Ruairi, my colleague and fellow English teacher. He’s from Ireland, and his girlfriend who just arrived in Japan is from France. We had a lovely fresh lunch. All the vegetables are locally grown. The persimmons (kaki) in the persimmon salad are from our backyard, and the oysters are so fresh, they come from Oyster farms not 500m away. I made the fried oysters

Given that most of the English teachers here are American/Canadian, Thanksgiving is an important event. And so I had my first Thanksgiving dinner party!

We had a room inside a restaurant/bar, and everyone brought a plate. Kapu made a beautiful crab noodle salad. Here it is in all it’s beautiful glory and decoration.

But unfortunately, it was served out on plates, so everyone couldn’t enjoy the beauty and effort kapu put into the salad. But it was still super tasty!

We had a great time. One of the guys made mulled wine. It was my first time having mulled wine and it was very tasty! (although it was sacrilegious to the wine for our French friend).

It was also served in big plastic cups, which was a bit strange (but didn’t detract from the yumminess). Here is the party in full swing.

There were some Japanese Teachers of English as well who came along. And it was a great night had by all. My first Thanksgiving. When we left, the key question was whether we could eat any more, and the only correct answer was “not another mouthful”. Which was very true, as we had a range of food from salads to chicken to potatoes to pies.

Shinshin is also ready for winter with her new winter collection.

With Christmas drawing closer, I’m busy preparing my Aussie Christmas-themed lessons and looking forward to the new years break. Wishing you all the best, and a quick reminder that if you want a postcard from me to send me your address. Winter is coming.

Our dessert tonight. Yum!

Posted from my Galaxy Tab with WordPress for Android

Today we decided to try something new and went to Tangri Tag Restaurant in Camberwell. It’s Uighur cuisine, Xinjiang food, and it’s simply amazing!!!

It is quite nicely decorated inside, with couch-like seating and nice lighting. It’s also handily located near Camberwell station and we didn’t have any issue with parking on a Sunday night.

The highlight of their food has to be the lamb skewers. Spicy lamb skewers (although they do ask you how spicy you want it).

These really remind me of the Muslim restaurant at BLCU in Beijing.  Next time, we’re going to get a whole lot more of them! They aren’t as cheap as in Beijing, but $2 each isn’t bad.

This is another of their speciality dishes. Dapanji – Big chicken dish. That’s the ‘large’ size for $28. It has chicken, potato, capsicum and handmade noodles. And a lovely sauce.

Their Palif was nice, but to me it felt like eating oily rice.  Won’t get this one next time. Also, the white rice, mifan, that we ordered wasn’t that great. I don’t think they do rice dishes very well. Get the noodles or meat instead.

This was amazing. The photo below doesn’t really show it that well, but you can get:

Full Lamb: $588

Yes, a whole lamb. You know, if you’re hungry or something. But you do need to order the day beforehand.

Tangre Tag (Tangri Tag) Restaurant

732 Burke Road
Camberwell VIC 3124

Ph: (03) 9882 8877

They’re open 5pm to 11pm during the week and 12pm to 10pm on the weekend.

If you’re looking for something new, give it a try. Super yummy!!

Posted from my Galaxy Tab with WordPress for Android

But in Japan, I’ve been enjoying myself. Had an awesome lunch. Sashimi, sushi, tempura, miso. But I forgot to take my camera (or phone) into the restaurant! Silly me. Won’t make that mistake again

My short Japan trip begins here. There’s lots planned, so I’m super excited! !

Posted from my Galaxy Tab with WordPress for Android

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.

Shikoku, meaning literally four countries/regions, comprises of four prefectures, and during feudal times, four provinces, is often most well known for its 88 sacred temples, and the pilgrimages that were frequently undertaken.

Until the late 1980′s, access was limited to ferries and it was apparently rather precarious to visit the island, which is buffeted by strong winds and storms. That changed with the building of several bridge systems, meaning we could drive there within a few hours. And even in the safety of the car, we could still see and feel the massively strong winds that scourge the island.

I like Castles. So we had to stop by and visit Matsuyama Castle. We took the chair-lift to the top. If only it was snowing =(

The scenery from the top was simply amazing, you could see the ocean gleaming in the distance in one direction, and mountains on the otherside, as the city sprawled underneath.

The castle was relatively impressive. Himeji still takes the cake.

We had perfect weather. It was actually snowing lightly randomly throughout the weekend, which was cool, but I want snow drifts!!! Snowmen etc!

And here’s us!

Funky tree

And a random camera view from the second or maybe third floor of the castle.

And we all know that we all love samurais. And ninjas. This guy was the fourth lord of the castle. And probably some rings too.

And this is where I became a samurai. I think I need some better fitting armour, and perhaps a few decades of training first though. We also drank some amasake, which is an AWESOME drink specially made from brown rice. YUM!

We then went to the hotel.Did I mention it was 5-star? All the female staff inside wore kimono’s, there was valet service, the onsen was actually a private onsen, so that it was never too crowded, and we didn’t have randoms coming off the street.

I went into the onsen/hot springs four times during our one night stay, which was apparently impressive, with most people doing only 3 times. The onsen is just amazing. The water temperature is around 42 degrees. You wash yourself first, then go into the hot spring. I could only last around 15-20 minutes each time, but that was because I like to submerge myself totally into the water.

There are no photos of the onsen, mainly because we’re all naked inside, and a guy taking a camera inside…well, I’m not quite sure people would understand.

The hotel is also apparently known for origami, which is dotted around the hotel and rooms.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant inside the hotel. You have to book ahead, and they only have 7 rooms/groups per night. The food they have is arguably, so I’m told, some of the best food in Japan. Everything they gave us was fresh, was carefully arranged and it was soooo tasty.

Have I mentioned I like sashimi? Everyone knows it, so I managed so score some extra abalone and fish.

This is us enjoying our food! We were actually in the hotel to celebrate grandma’s birthday.

Fresh squid. I hate to admit it, but before I got to Japan, I didn’t actually know there was a difference between squid and octopus. I thought they were two words for the same thing.

We wore yukata’s that they gave us. It’s handy, and only Japanese Japanese hotels allow you to walk around in them.

And the flower picture.

Japanese Beef. mmm. yum. It’s a lot more expensive than imported Australian/other beef, and it’s darn tasty. This was wagyu beef.

Fish! Fresh and yummy!

Then fried fish!

And a traditional Japanese Breakfast in the morning.

I forgot to take a picture when the room was all neat and tidy, but here’s a sneak shot of the room. They also came and made tea for us when we arrived and in the morning.

Dougo is the oldest onsen in Japan, and this is one of the famous public onsens. We walked past at 6am, when they opened, and about 30 people were already queued up to get in!

And a clock. It tells the time.

Some funky art at one of the shops in the shopping street.

There’s a bit more about Ghibli, but I’m going to leave that for its own post!

I really want to go to onsens more! They are awesome!! Wish there were some onsens in Sydney.

I have a lot of catching up to do. Yes, I know you’re all waiting for some pictures of the anime stuff I’ve bought, but you’ll have to be patient just a little longer. I haven’t had a chance to take the photos yet (and I want to try something that might turn out cool).

The Tokyo subway system is pretty awesome, but SO complicated. You really have to plan out your journey and figure out where to change before you start your journey.

We went to Shibuya and this is the super-famous crossing that you always see on TV etc. It wasn’t as busy as it could have been.

This is the famous dog called Hachiko that is often mentioned in animes. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the story is that he would meet his owner at the train station everyday after work , and that after the owner died, he kept going to the station to wait.

Random pic of Shibuya.

And here’s some cosplay from Harajuku. Eye cancer included.

There wasn’t as much cosplay as I expected, but then the whole trip Tokyo wasn’t as packed as expected/normal.

The best cosplay, to be honest, were the girls who were just walking around Harajuku in maid costumes, pretty dresses and such. Made it a bit hard to take photos.

Live music was included though. And it wasn’t even that bad.

This poor neko was being mauled by a..well, not sure what to call him. He had a massive camera and after every shot he would adjust the girl’s arm/pose, to get the perfect shot.

Half the cosplay wasn’t even really cosplay imho. Just funkily dressed ppl.

I want to go back to Tokyo when it’s a bit busier and take a lot more photos.

But failing that, can always just buy the costumes and get my gf to dress up

Lots of funky art around. This place had an Tokyo Okonomiyaki restaurant inside which is really popular. We had to wait an hour for seats.

Which brings us onto the topic of food.

This:

Becomes:

Which then becaome this as we decided to make one massive one rather than two small ones:

Which becomes this:

It’s actually really yummy. I prefer it over Osaka Okonomiyaki, but nothing beats Hiroshima Okonomiyaki. This is a heart. Because I love my gf.

Oh, and I can’t forget dessert can I. Someone tell me if you can get Haagen Dazs in Australia, because I’ve never seen it around.

Blogging catch up begins NOW!

They have an awesome ￥100  and ￥120 menu, which is around a dollar or two, exchange rate dependant.

The pictures suck, will get some better ones later.

Sorting rubbish is BIG in Japan. Even in Maccas. At the top there is a hole to put in unfinished drinks.

This is a sorta filler post, I admit it, using sub-par photos. I’ll go take some better ones soon.

My brief visit to Japan’s South Island over, it was time to hit the train tracks and take the Shinkansen up to Tokyo. This time, I got to travel on 3 different shinkansens.

The journey itself took about 5 hours.

The insides of the train are similar to a coach bus. The cushiony seats are reclinable, there’s plenty of leg room (even for me) and you can put stuff above you.  They have different configurations, 2-2seats and 2-3 seats.

The scenery and views on the journey was an interesting glimpse into Japan.

Within an hour, we were in snowfields, and I was sooo tempted to get off the train just to play around in it.

Japan is pretty mountainous, which makes for amazing scenes and contrasts.

The ‘scenery’ highlight on the train ride was definitely seeing this mountain.

Mount Fuji. Pretty slick eh.

Tokyo station was a seething mass of people, however it is under massive construction, due to be finished in 2010 or 2012, so wasn’t really that picture worthy. There are lots of random scultuptures and such around though.

This is the “Peace Clock”. Not sure what about it represents peace, but there you have it. It should also be noted that Tokyo is a candidate city for the 2016 Olympic Games.

After checking into our super-tiny hotel room, we decided to try something fun and go restaurant hopping for dinner.

The aim was for a round of drinks and small dishes at each one. Sake was at the first restaurant.

I guess it’s getting a bit old me showing all these photos of food, so I’ll “select” a few from the second restaurant. Scallops anyone?

Or how about a yoghurt-ish shaka shaka drink?

At a lot of restaurants (ones I saw anyway), after the 25th of December, they raise their prices in anticipation of New Years. So it wasn’t as cheap as it could have been. As a result, we decided to raid 7/11 and take the party back home.

My best friend Haagen-dazs was there as well. I’ve only ever had Haagen-Dazs when I was in China, and afaik, it’s not available in Sydney. Heaven knows why. I mean, we have TWO lindt cafes! Why not Haagen-Dazs.

This post is being cut a little short, in order to meet publishing deadlines, (and because I want to sleep now.) (And if you didn’t realise, that was my birthday dinner above =p)

So I’ll leave you with this little gem I found on the Tokyo subway.

Juicy Tokyo photos and more tomorrow!

Stay Tuned~

The 26th of December dawned a bright and sunny day, albeit cold, and what better way to spend it than by visiting Kumamoto Castle. This is only the second castle I’ve been to in Japan.

While it may look impressive, it is a little disappointing that most of the Castle was rebuilt in 1960, with restorations beginning in 1998. The Castle has the two main towers, 49 turrets, 18 gates with turrets and 29 additional gates, and was this version of the castle was originally built around 1600AD.

This tower/turret, however, is quite a bit older and was quite scary to walk in. The floorboards kept bending as I walked on them, and creaked quite ominously.

All the doorways were also ridiculously low, standing at maybe 1.5m tall.

The castle would look really, really good in Spring, when the Cherry Blossom trees were in bloom. Unfortunately, in winter, all I get to look at is the barebones of trees.

The castle had high walls (you can see a person in the pic for comparison)

It also had a moat.

And lots of windows for shooting arrows and guns out of on unsuspecting passerbys (or enemies) =p.

The castle has a good surrounding view. In this picture you can see (at 10x zoom) Mount Aso in the distance.

The castle, while looking nice, was pretty much designed for tourists when they re-built it. There are concrete stairs throughout the centre of the castle, and all the floors are exhibits. This contrasts to Himeji Castle, which I quite prefer.

The Honmaru Goten Palace, recently rebuilt, is so new and sparkly, you can even SMELL the new wood. It’s almost scary how new it is. It is, however, faithfully reproduced, and even uses traditional techniques for joining the wood and such.

And some, what I believe to be preserved versions, or more proably replicas, of some of the door designs.

Traditional New Years decorations. You’ll see these all over the place in Japan.

After walking through the Castle and a few of its turrets, I went for lunch =) Fried Oysters.

And I finished it pretttyyy quickly.

Kumamoto Castle was nice, but all-in-all, I prefer Himeji Castle. Perhaps it wasn’t the best thing to go and see the top-rated (or one of) Himeji Castle in Japan first, but there you go. Probably not the most fascinating blog I’ve done, but it’s an important cultural part of Japan, and much of the Castle area is World Heritage (13 buildings).

After leaving Kumamoto, I went for a sushi-train dinner with the family, and then went to Tokyo. More on that soon!

Stay tuned~