Going through our photos from Fukuoka, I discovered there weren’t many that didn’t someway involve Canal City. The rest of the city wasn’t really that photogenic.
Category: Japan
Hiroshima & Miyajima Photos
Last week we had a go at cooking Okonomiyaki (my favourite quick meal in Japan). After revisting the food, I figured it was also time to revisit the blog and get some more photos up here. The home of Okonomiyaki is Hiroshima, so here are some photos from our time there, and the nearby island of Miyajima.
Osaka Photos
I thought I should upload a few select photos from the trip for the benefit of those who haven’t had the chance (or the patience) to sit through the full slide show. I’ll be grouping the photos by the city they were taken in, so we start at the start – in Osaka.
Arigatō Gozaimasu Jetstar
Arigatō gozaimasu (thankyou very much) has probably been the one phrase we’ve used more than any other during our trip. I’ve nearly said it instead of thanks a few times here in Sydney. So yes, we’re back home, and the journey here was a little more eventful than our departure. Despite some misadventures, I’m still pretty grateful for the way Jetstar handled it all.
Going Home
The end draws ever nearer, and soon we will depart from these fair shores. But in the spirit of completeness, to bring this blog full circle (subject to any closing remarks Sim may wish to add), I will now publish my list of:
Things I’m Looking Forward to Coming Home to, and Things I’ll Be Sorry to Leave Behind
Kyoto II: Return to Kyoto
I do not know, dear reader, whether you have yet investigated the Go! channel via your digital tuner. If, like me, you’ve turned it on during the day just to see, you’ll know that it plays repeats of The Nanny for the edification of bored housewives.
Well, that’s pretty much how it feels to be here in Nagoya: it seems to be entirely populated by women (and indeed men) with improbable shoes and enormous teased hair. Being our last full day in Japan, we had a lot of shopping to finalise before making the trip back, and we thought Nagoya would be perfect, being a shopper’s paradise.
What do you mean no robots?
Our final meal in Tokyo did not compare favourably to the culinary highlights we’d experienced there. We wanted a quick bite before we got on the Shinkansen to Nagoya, so we headed to MOS Burger. Holly’s choice of a Yakiniku Rice Burger turned out to not be a burger containing rice, but a burger made of rice. It fell apart as soon as she attempted to pick it up – who’d have thought rice wasn’t a suitable substitute for bread rolls?
Sumo
When today started neither of us knew much about Sumo. After a few hours of watching it we’re not really any the wiser on most of the rule or rituals. I could try and explain some parts vaguely, but you’d be better off looking it up on Wikipedia instead.
Tokyo
It’s our fourth day in Tokyo, and so far the best way I can describe it is like an Easter Show taking place in a massive airport. Train stations and shopping centres are made up of long corridors filled with people. On the streets, cars are outnumbered by people, who are outnumbered by neon lights.
The Circle of Life
Since we’re on holidays in a country that doesn’t wake up until lunch, we figured, why not get up at 4am and see what’s going on then?
Well, for starters, the nearby okonomiyaki establishment known as the “Big Pig” was still open, so that’s good to know for future reference. Not much else seemed to be happening though, so we thought we’d go down to Tsukiji and see where the action was.