Best. Sushi. Ever. Grilled fish on rice mixed with red vinegar.
Can’t be bothered to blog about the trip highlights. All I can say is I went to Tsukiji too many times (it was a few subway stops from where I stayed) and had a lot of great food. Just go to the Flickr set and read the captions.
As usual, the photos and videos are up on flickr.
Day 7: Karuizawa
Day 8: Harajuku
The most interesting part might be the experience of taking a night train from Honshu to Hokkaido.
The cheap seat-only carts (like this one) were filled by mostly tourists, whereas the couchettes (bed carts) were occupied by locals. I had no problem sleeping on the reclined seat, but it got uncomfortably cold at night and I had to wrap myself in pants (didn’t bring a jacket).
How to go to Hokkaido with a JR Pass:
17:56 – 21:00 Tokyo => Hachinohe
21:17 – 22:18 Hachinohe => Aomori
22:45 – 06:07 Aomori => Sapporo
It’s not exactly fun, but that’s the cheapest way to do it since it’s fully covered by the JR Pass. Plus I got to save money on a night of accommodation. Now that I have done it once, I might do it again.
Arriving Sapporo at 6 a.m. was harsh, but I will save that for the next post.
Jon and Larry were up on Mt. Fuji on Day Five and Six, so I just went shopping.
There is a Starbucks in Shibuya near the Hachiko intersection that is popular among photographers.
After an Iced Coffee Jello drink and a little bit of Photoshop effort, here’s the tilt-shifted Shibuya miniature.
Roppongi
Day 5 Shibuya, Shimokitazawa, Kichijouji, Roppongi and Day 6 (nothing interesting) on Flickr.
For the longest time, my website would show up as the first result if you search for kanidouraku in google. Not anymore. I need to go there more often.
The Railway Museum (鉄é“åšç‰©é¤¨) was quite nice. I recommend spending a morning there, even if you are not a JR fan.
A lot of the shots were taken with my new wideangle lens. For more photos and videos, go to the Flickr set.
On the third day, Random Jon woke up and decided it would be a good day to visit Disneyland. I went unprepared, with only an uncharged battery in my point-and-shoot. The indicator was red and empty by noon.
Space Mountain was still the best ride. Well worth the wait compare to the other ones that I can’t even recall.
By using the “wait a few seconds and turn it on again” technique repeatedly, I was able to take a bunch of 1 or 2 seconds clip at night. By the end of the parade, my camera did not even have enough power to retract the lens.
One thing I noticed though, teenage Japanese girls are way more into Disney characters than others. During the parade(s), they screamed out Mickey’s name and flapped their arms, as if they saw Justin Timberlake or something. Oh, and the blue rat is huge in Japan.
