I was never really one to follow politics closely, nor was I ever one to really care about anything outside of music, finding a girlfriend, hanging out with friends, or thinking about what I might want to do the following day, week, month, or year. Usually it involved slogging through life keeping myself happy. Recently, however, this has changed drastically.
Japan Trip – Day 4 – Ride to Koyasan
From Tuesday, November 15th, 2005: On our way to Koyasan to visit some monks and keep in a traditional Japanese Ryokan. The entire day was spent traveling to Koyasan. First, JR Loop line from Shinjuku to Tokyo Station. Bullet train to Shin-Osaka. Loop line to Shin-Imamiya. Nankai Koya Line to Gokurakubashi. Cable car to Koyasan. Bus to Ryokan. Fun!
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Japan Trip – Day 3 – Train Riding
From Monday, November 14th, 2005: Welcome to Day 3 of the Japan Trip. Our first real big day of formal sight-seeing. I was finally feeling back to normal after recovering from the jet lag and the nice cold I caught. We managed to figure out the trains well enough to make it to the Imperial Palace, the Meiji Shrine, and meet up with our friend Saya-san in Shimbashi in the evening. Unfortunately, I didn’t take too much video except on the trains themselves. There’s a quick bit about navigating the trains and what you see inside of them but that’s about all. The rest is pictures that you can also see in Flickr.
Anyway, here it is. Enjoy!
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Japan Trip – Day 2 – Shinjuku
From Sunday, November 13th, 2005: Lots to see and lots to do in grand ol’ Tokyo. This day, we started it off right by visiting the Shinjuku Center, Sumitomo, and NS buildings for some high flying sight seeing. It was pretty amazing to be able to see metro spread for so far. We walked from downtown Shinjuku through Yoyogi, discovering vending machines, weird looking buildings, video games and pachinko parlors, and finally found the Sapporo beer museum in Ebisu.
We finished off the night by sitting in downtown Shinjuku totally wiped out and still not over our jetlag. It was somewhat surreal towards the end of the night and hence the weird music. I think it really captures the theme even though I totally ripped it off from “Lost in Translationâ€. Enjoy!
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Japan Trip – Day 1 – Arrival
From Saturday, November 12th, 2005: We arrived in Tokyo on Saturday November 12th, completely exhausted and tired from the 2 hour connecting flights, the 14 hour flight to Narita, the 1 hour long train ride to Shinjuku from Narita Airport, and the 1 hour jaunt to find our hotel. Needless to say, getting to Shinjuku is a multi-stage journey.
Upon arrival, it was a bit overwhelming, but really exciting. After the final leg of the journey, I was feeling a bit punchy. My only regret … I wish I took more video footage so this first installment is a little thin. Hope you enjoy!
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Best Blonde Joke Ever
Thanks to Rich Pav from Herro Flom Japan for referring me to the best blonde joke ever!!! Freaking hilarious.
Going to Japan!
Its official. By this time next month I will finally be in Japan … well, at least for a bit. The tickets are bought, the hotels are booked, and I’ll be experiencing the longest birthday ever as I cross the dateline in reverse on my way home on 11/20. Tokyo, Kobe, Osaka are all in the running for some visits.
I plan on taking tons of pictures, videos, and taking orders for things Japan. More to come. If anyone has any recommendations on where to go, what to do, who to see, and how to see it … please let me know.
Coverting to GMail
I’ll be sending out an email soon. I wanted to let everyone know that I’ve moved over to gmail. My existing addresses will still work, but from now on please contact me at christopher ([at]) findingjapan.com. If anyone is interested in how to convert your existing OS X mail over to gmail, send me a note and I’ll give ya some pointers. Thanks everyone.
Updates Coming Soon / Taking the GMATs
Hey everyone, sorry there have been no updates. I’m not even really sure who actually reads this besides a few friends who I rarely, or I have never, seen before. (Hi Akiko!!). I’ve been busy studying for the GMATs (Graduate Management Aptitude Test) in advance of applying to graduate school. So far, so good. Its not such a hard test to study for, but I’ve been spending most of the time on the verbal components – since that is surely my weaker point. What I have found amazing is that much of the material knowledge needed to complete the test one learns in high school. Though, it has made me bust out the quadratic equation one more time. Yikes.
Also, look here for some information about a site that I will be launching to augment my study of Japanese. I’ve been really procrastinating on this but I think I will finally find the time after this studying is over.
Long Week
Please please please go do something fun this weekend for me. This week has been totally killer. I need to sleep another 12 hours.