Japan – Tokyo Day 1

Tokyo, Japan Day 93 (May 3)

Tokyo is a massive crazy place; although everything runs in a controlled orderly fashion. Imagine using the New York subway system to cover the central metropolis, and then multiply by ten for another rail system connecting the inner metropolis to the outer megapolis. I guess this is how they cram 40 million people inside an area just a bit smaller than the New York metropolitan, with its 19 million. To top it off, the bullet train connects Tokyo with other mega-cities, leaving Tokyo station every 10 minutes.

subway map for Central Tokyo

Tokyo is also a very trendy and fashionable place. Today, while we are sightseeing, Gege and Jiejie visit a new downtown coffee shop where people are lined up for several hours to sit down and have coffee. The idea of waiting so long for coffee is so crazy, people just can’t resist the buzz. According to their report; it was worth a 30 minute wait, but not 2 hours. Afterwards, they visit a new Forever 21 women’s clothing store which just opened, but the line is a kilometer long; wrapped around a large city block.

zzz..huh…line, what line?

Vana and I head to Jingu-bashi to have pictures taken with the “costume play” vampy goth kids, who pose for tourists. They don’t want pictures taken unless you ask for permission, so they can do their special poses.

GeiGei & JeiJei dropped us off at Jingu-bashi, then headed to the coffee shop

vampy goth kid

posing for pic

Jingu-bashi is not only for gothic kids to hangout. It’s also a place for young people to express themselves. Need a free hug?

And…kids who’ve been bullied in school

We visit the nearby temple; which turned out to be a waste after already visiting Kyoto. On the way out, the subway is packed like a rock concert.

temple entrance

colorful lamps

Looks too clean to be a temple

taking a rest before heading to the subway rush

which is packed like a rock concert

Next, we take subway to the bustling youth-oriented shopping district of Shibuya, and visit the famous 109 building. The teens and twenty-something’s in this mall are decked out in $1,000 dollars worth of product and looking for more; hair, nails, make-up, shoes, bags, and clothes. I was thinking the US Federal Reserve should pass out free tickets to America in this mall, since these Japanese women look like they could pull the US out of recession in no time!

109 building is a department store for youth fashion. One for women, another one across the street for men.

fancy crystal nails

Vana trying some high heels

Say what?

Sweet looking rags

Loving the knee high socks

Men line up outside the shop for women’s un-mentionables

Like my space goggles?

Stylin hats

for cool cats

Aside from cheeky comments, the young women look really good, and are wearing the best looking clothes I’ve seen anywhere in the world. There is amazing variety of fashion; cartoon doll, goth, funky hippie, punk rocker, etc. We now see why they are the fashion trend setters for all of Asia, which by population makes them the fashion world’s leaders. It’s really amazing to see the incredible variety of outfits. But, after several hours walking around without a subway nap, the high heels, knee high socks, and short skirts all start to look the same.

Same Same, But Different?

We top the day off with a quick visit to Ginza, which is like the Park Ave of Tokyo. With its sparkling buildings and squeaky clean windows, you’d think they mix diamond powder in the city water.

arriving Ginza

kids playing video game while mom shopping in the expensive name brand store

Stand in line for some famous mini waffle in the neighborhood

Yum! the best waffle ever…definitely worth the 10 min wait!

We visit the Sony building to see their latest wares; but left un-impressed. Seems Sony is yesterday’s news with the Koreans at Samsung and LG cleaning their clock these days.

Sony building

We take the elevator to the top floor of the Imperial Hotel for the view, but balk at the $300 dollar dinner buffet. Instead, we met GeiGei and JieJie for dinner at a sushi restaurant.

Tokyo at night

Sushi boat style restaurant

Around they go, where they stop, nobody knows…

Ahi dreamin!

CLICK HERE to see rest of the pictures from this day.

Japan – Tokyo, Hot Spring

Tokyo, Japan Day 88 (April 28)

We arrive around 8PM, and take the slow and cheaper train into Tokyo, which take 1.5 hours. We meet Vana’s cousin Dong Li and her husband Jia Yunjian at Tokyo Station. In Chinese tradition, we call them Jie Jie and Ge Ge, for sister and brother. It’s about 1AM when we arrive at the station near their home. They take us for some tasty Chinese Dan Dan noodles. Coming from the Philippines, every bite is like a slice of heaven.

Ge Ge and Jie Jie met at Nanjing (Nanking) University in China, and now live in Japan. They both work at Hitachi, but in different divisions. Jie Jie works on Financial Software System, and Ge Ge works on Signal Processing for mobile phone communications. Kevin and Ge Ge studied the same material in Grad school, but Ge Ge holds a PhD, which is required for mobile phone communication work, which is now so complicated.

The May Holiday in Japan is this week, so Jie Jie and Ge Ge have time to hang out with us.

Vana’s cousin-in-law Jia Yunjian (middle), Vana’s cousin Han Dongli (right). Vana: I’m SO happy to see them, it’s been years!

Dan Dan noodles & Dumpling…finally, some tasty food!

Tokyo, Japan Day 89 (April 29)

In the morning, Ge Ge rents a car, and we drive into the country side outside of Toyko. We visit a park, which is famous for their purple, pink, and white flowers. We have perfect California weather; dry, sunny and 70 degrees.

cheery blossom

Purple, Pink, and White springtime dreamin

Team Tokyo

Park in the valley

Gate and stairway

We stay at a Japanese Rokan style hotel, with hot springs onsite. The Rokan hotel has completely empty rooms, with paper walls and sliding doors. The staff brings cushions and blankets when you are ready to sleep. It’s a great opportunity to clear the fog out of your brain, and refresh yourself in a spring time dream.

When we arrive, we strip down, and throw all our clothes and baggage into the closet. We then change in to Yukata, and head for a dip in the hot springs. The staff sets up dinner on the floor of our room. In the hotel, there is no need for such worldly things like shoes or clothes. This is great, because after almost three months on the road, our worldly things are getting pretty funky.

arriving our hotel in Chichibu city

Vana serving hot tea

Watch your head, ready to strip down

Jie Jie helping us with Yukata

waist line adjustment

Japanese sisters from China

Getting ready for a dip in the hot springs while staff prepared dinner for us

Japanese Soba noodle

fresh sushi, tempera, and a lots of goodies

After dinner, we watched staff making bed for us

Diving into bed

Salmon for breakfast?! Hmm…

Cook your own egg and ham

Breakfast area

CLICK HERE to see more flower park pictures.
CLICK HERE to see more hot spring pictures.

Philippines – Donsol to Japan

Donsol, Philippines Day 87 (April 27)

Philippine Map

We are in Donsol

In the afternoon, Vana gets some great pics of a Cock fight in the small village on the beach behind our hotel. It is interesting to watch, because there is a lot of discussion, inspection, and betting that happens before the fight starts.

Apparently, the birds are specially bred and cared for, conditioned for increased stamina and strength, much like the professional athletes. We see the owners kissing their birds numerous times. Cocks possess congenital aggression toward all males of the same species, and are generally protective of their hens, resulting in aggression towards any threatening being.

The birds are equipped with knives tied to the leg in the area where the bird’s natural spur has been partially removed. There are 2 kinds of knives used in Philippine cockfighting. The single edge blade and double edged blades. All knives are attached on the left leg of the cock. But depending on the agreement between owners, blades can be attached on the right leg, or even on both legs.

The end is a bit gruesome, since the fight is to the death; probably the reason this blood sport is illegal in most of western countries.

Prize bird

Bird inspection and knife attachment

Test to see if the birds are in fighting mood

Show of strength

Circling and studying

Offense and Defense

Attack!

Crowd closes in for the results

the winner is…

CLICK HERE to see more cockfight pictures.
CLICK HERE to see more Donsol village pictures.

We high tail it back to Legaspy for the night, and stay at the Dream Inn Hotel. It’s not so dreamy, but it does the job. The van has transmission trouble, and drops us in Darang (a town 20 mins away from our destination), where we take Jeepnie to Legaspy.

Our free three week visa is up, and it’s time for us to leave the Philippines. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the island of Palawan, which is said to be a “must see”. To sum it up;

• Great people and great fun, but get out of Manila and Cebu as fast as possible.
• Great opportunity to get off the Gringo trail; Transportation is extremely convenient and fun, but takes time.
• The worst food of anywhere we ever visited. It’s by far the biggest barrier to our desire to return to visit Palawan.

Some more misc pictures from Donsol below:

curious smile

Happy kid

Filippo Happy Hour; fiery death chased with water

Sleepy kitten out side of our room

Not only they wake us up at 6 every morning, the Filippo rosters make noise all day

as revenge, we order chicken every meal

happy Filipino sisterhood

Philippine Rocks!

Philippines to Japan Day 88 (April 28)

In the morning we fly from Legaspy to Manila, and then recheck our flight to Tokyo, Japan. From the airport in Legaspy, we have a clear morning, and can see the local volcano.

Ready to blow this joint

Perfect volcano shape, looks like a cartoon