Thailand - June 27 2007

À VENIR....

Hong Kong - June 19 2007

Hi,
>>
>>This is my last day here in Hong Kong, I am leaving in about 10 hours.
>>For those of you who are not informed yet, before leaving Asia I decided
>>to
>>visit Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok in June. So for everything has been
>>great, lots of experiences (good and bad) but it is all worth it.
>>
>>I will write again from Thailand.
>>
>>Hong Kong was a great trip in a true World City that bridges East and
>>West.
>>There are Chinese traditions that are kept here like dragon dances, bamboo
>>structures for construction and deliveries are made in bamboo baskets. At
>>the same time, it is very modernized with smart chip technology that is
>>integrated througout the network of trains, ferries, tram and metro. You
>>can pay by flashing your card over the reader and in one second the
>>payment
>>is done, but the greatest thing is that you can use it to pay in
>>convenience
>>stores and vending machines as well.
>>
>>Hong Kong enjoys a duty free status so my friends and I did lots of
>>shopping
>>especially in the night markets where we saw all sorts of items at good
>>prices. And how about Chinese food in Hong Kong? the best! We went to
>>traditional tea drinking and brunch (Yam Cha) at the city hall on Sunday
>>morning and we had to wait 1h to get in because that place is so popular.
>>The specialty of Yam Cha is small finger food that is mostly steamed such
>>as
>>shrimp dumplings and sticky rice cooked in a big leaf. Of course I tried
>>the infamous peking BBQ duck and the rich and tasty treats baked daily in
>>local bakeries all over Hong Kong. I have to say thought that if you go
>>in
>>Chinatown in Montreal you get the same kind of food and the same taste...
>>that means our chinese food in Montreal is authentic! Yesterday we went
>>to
>>Lamma island to try seafood, another specialty of this port city. At a
>>very
>>decent price we ate 6 types of seafood in an open-air restaurant on the
>>seaside.
>>
>>The city of Hong Kong itself is very beautiful and I never grew tired of
>>seeing the skyline of Hong Kong island from the Kowloon peninsula. There
>>is
>>the biggest ongoing laser show on earth in Hong Kong, involving 37
>>buildings
>>and it plays nightly at 8pm... I saw this show at least 3 times from
>>different view points... Spectacular!
>>
>>Hong Kong island during the night also turns into a big party area for
>>busnessmen, locals and tourists alike. They have very nice and varied
>>clubs, pubs and bars... something for everyone's taste. The streets
>>become
>>packed with people there to have a good time and music floods the streets
>>from everywhere... great atmosphere.
>>
>>The surrounding islands of Hong Kong and the great parks (including a free
>>public zoo!) offer an opportunity for the hardworking international
>>community to relax in an oasis of greenery, waterfalls and amazing water
>>fountains.
>>
>>That is my summary of my Hong Kong trip... it got off to a bad start with
>>a
>>hostel situation where I was tricked twice (the hostel advertised on the
>>internet probably does not exist and I was not refunded when I cancelled).
>>But I guess this kind of thing is bound to happen, so I took more
>>precautions for the upcomming Thailand trip.
>>
>>For those of you wondering, I am returning to Canada officially July 13th
>>because of a schedule change. If you have any questions please email
>>me...
>>I cannot check my emails regularly when I am traveling in my suitecase,
>>but
>>I try to check them every 48 hours.
>>
>>Take care to you all and hopefully see you soon
>>
>>
>>Joel

Sayonara Tokyo - June 11 2007

This afternoon I am taking a plane to Hong Kong and for the next 3 weeks will be touring Hong Kong and a few spots in Thailand. I will also be meeting friends that I met at Kansai Gaidai university.

Decidedly, I am a real geek: of all places, I went back to Akihabara for my Tokyo farewell tour. I listened to a few street bands playing cacophonic music that were all competing on decibels rather than music.

I also caught a glimpse of a young girl posing for a bunch of avid photographers. I think she waved good bye to me, I know she did.

Sayonara Tokyo.

Asakusa - June 9 2007

I feel I have done everything I wanted to do now in Tokyo... Harajuku girls, Shibuya cross-way, Yasukuni shrine, a festival, crowded trains and today I wrapped everything by visiting the popular Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. Other than its infamous Kaminarimon giant lantern, it is peculiar for having an open air market leading to the main gate (Hozomon). If you are looking for souvenirs, that is definitely a place to go. Things are quite cheap and you can find a bit of everything... from cheap pocket-sized souvenirs that probably has the ubiquitous "made in China" stamp to expensive looking statues and antiquities waiting to be purchased by the willing but unaware tourist.

I did a bit of shopping myself, bargaining for a pair of sunglasses on the pretext that I cannot buy expensive sunglasses because I break or lose all of them within weeks. Indeed, since my trip in Wakayama, I seem to have contracted a curse that makes me lose or break all my sunglasses. Maybe I did not respect the protocols or I didn't pray properly on Mount Koya. Well, I got these ones for 20$.

I am also starting to be cheap because I know I will be spending alot in the next few weeks.. I will be playing the Jet-Set tourist in Hong Kong and Thailand.

Akihabara #2 - June 8 2007

Today I had the opportunity to meet one of my very good Japanese friends that I met back in Montreal. From Tokyo, she used to work at Tokyo Disney and now works in a fancy pub in the Shinagawa area of Tokyo.

I first went to Akihabara for lunch and had extra spicy curry and then met up with my friend at the Ueno station of the Yamanote line. Then we decided to go to Akihabara to have a truly Japanese experience: go to a maid café. Going to a maid café means that you are a master to the young waitresses in their French maid costumes. Apparently this is a big fantasy for Japanese geeks, or Otaku. This was a funny experience, but I still don't understand why it's a big thing. Also, my Japanese friend had lots of trouble explaning the "MOE" word in Otaku culture so that is also a mystery to me. Anyone knows?

I ended up joining her at work and had extra spicy potatoes.. they were too spicy, I started having hiccups. The bartender was quite friendly and kept making jokes about Osaka people because I told him I had stayed in Osaka most of my time in Japan.

That night I visited East Shinjuku under a different light in the ni-chome area until late... I wandered in the streets and found myself feasting on Takoyaki watching transvestites, gogo boys and drunken samurai passing by. They seemed to be remnants of a party I had missed. It was time for me to go back to the youth hostel. Only now, I was alone, well not exactly, I had seen a roach hiding under my futon when I turned on the light, so that night I slept with the lights on with all my clothes on.

Ghibli - June 7 2007

Today was the last full day that my friend was in Tokyo with me, and in Japan for that matter. After spending one semester in Asia he is going back to Utah. I am going back to Quebec in less than a month.

We had a real nice treat for us today. To continue the museum treck we went on yesterday, we visited the Ghibli Museum. For those of you who are not familiar with Japanese Animation, Ghibli studios is responsible for some of the most popular animated movies from Japan. Few of them have been distributed by Disney, such as Spirited Away and Howl's Moving castle. I suggest you to look into those movies if you like magic and fantasy.

The museum is a real charm and the exhibits are surprising, some being very simple but still astonishing. One of them features a recreation of Hayao Miyazaki's office (the director of many popular Japanese animations). The main point of the museum is the life-size statue of a robot in The Island in the Sky.

Of course like every respected museums, you will find an overpriced boutique for tourists. This really got me in the mood of buying Ghibli merchandise and I ended up buying 2 card holders, 2 keychains, 1 fridge magnet and 1 figurine. My craze also sent me scrambling for Ghibli merchandise in different boutiques and Toys R Us stores all over Tokyo.

Museum day - June 6 2007

We were busy visiting museums all day: the National Museum is in fact 5 museums in the Ueno area. They have a vast collection of national treasures ranging from ancient tapestry to samurai armors!

The other museum we visited was in Odaiba, another place coming right out of sci-fi flicks. We visited Miraikan (The museum of the future) in this was one of the coolest places I have seen. The most impressive exhibit was a robot-controlling simulation. My friend and I learned how to control a small six-legged robot and then we were lead into a large room with an imax screen. We had 3d glasses and then we were at the commands of the same robot we were learning to pilot. The simulation makes you feel like you were miniaturized and inside the robot because cameras and mics are installed on the robot and the sound and image is used in the large room for the simulation. Not only that, the whole room is placed on a hydraulic system that recreates the movements we order the robot to do in real time.

We ended the day meeting up with a Tokyoite friend to have a few drinks and end up completely drunk and talking about the greatness of Japan to local salarymen.

That night we slept in the comfort of a Capsule hotel... It wasn't that comfortable, but we had to try it! This one was in Akihabara.

Central Tokyo & Roppogi - June 5 2007

Another long day - 9 hours of walking around in the Capital of the country of the Rising Sun.

Our day started off around the imperial palace, which we got to see a corner of! The imperial palace is secluded in a central garden and only 3 times a year can the general public enter the garden and see the emperor say a few words. The site is beautiful though and provides for a peaceful stroll in the middle of Tokyo urban mayhem.

Close to the imperial gardens are the main federal government offices. The Diet (Japanese parliament) is also there, but my friend and I thought that the building is not representative of Japan at all.

Next we visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine which is about 30 minutes walking distance from the Diet (kokkai). This shrine was repeatedly in the international media when former MP Junichiro Koizumi paid regular visits during holidays. The problem is that 16 enshrined soldiers are people who are accused of crimes against humanity because of their atrocious crimes during the war. This enrages China and Korea and marred the relationship between those countries.

The picture at the top with the airplane was taken at Yasukuni shrine, and this is the model of plane that was used for kamikaze during WWII.

Later that day we visited Roppongi, a district known to have a lot of expats and some violence. There are two parts to Roppongi: the party area with many overpriced clubs and restaurants, and then the administrative area with high rise buildings, where you feel like you are projected into the future.. also with overpriced restaurants. We were hopping to find a nice place to have dinner here, but we gave up and went to Shinjuku to have dinner because we were tired of eating at Wendy's.

Toudai and shrine - June 4 2007

Today we visited a nice shrine that stands in the middle of a large swamp with many tamed turtles getting a sun tan! We also walked to Toudai (Tokyo University), the most prestigious and known university in Japan. The architecture of this university was very European. We were to shy to talk to some of the students.

We also walked to Akihabara, the electronics district of Tokyo, a sanctuary for geeks!

Akihabara is not as surprising in the first visit. You have to go back a few times and discover the little shops and capsule hotels that are quite discreet, but when you find you are in for some surprises!

The highlight of this visit in Akihabara was finding Quebec's national Poutine! (puuchin in Japanese).

These days we are walking around the city about 8 hours a day so in the evening we are so dead we just rent movies at Tsutaya and watch them at the hostel.

Asakusa Matsuri - June 3 2007

On Sunday morning we woke up to some soft drum songs and melancholic flute music. As we were heading out for downtown Tokyo we saw that a group of people wearing traditional Japanese clothes were slowing walking down the streets, carrying a small Mikoshi (portable temple) with children beating the drum. It seemed like a procession. How ever, as we walked further in the neighborhood we saw other groups each wearing their own colors and chanting, dancing and drumming happily. We then understood we were staying at a hostel were there was a festival right beside. We did arrive at the right moment. It was very impressive to see the massive mikoshi being transported by a few people, it seemed like a daring stunt in the summer heat. We also found the central place for the festival and this was quite nice too. We had the impression that were walking through a carnival maze with concessions of all kinds. There was also a Taiko group scheduled to play but we decided to head out for Harajuku to see the Harajuku girls.

It was difficult to find the Harajuku girls. We thought we would simply find them by going to the harajuku station of the Yamanote line, but when we got there we did not see any group of girls wearing outlandish outfits. We asked a few locals and they were all saying contradictory directions. We finally found them near the Yoyogi park where there is some sort of square near a pedestrian overpass. This was also quite interesting, but I was disappointed because I was expecting to see hoards of Japanese girls wearing gaudy outfits. There were a few, some cute, some scary!

That same day we visited the very nice national gardens and the Meiji shrine where we had the chance to witness a traditional Japanese wedding.

Arrival in Tokyo - June 2 2007

The bus ride was, OK no leg space and no comfortable position to sleep for more than 1h straight. When we arrived in Tokyo we realized why some people told us GOOD LUCK when we told them we would arrive in Shinuku in the morning. This train station is HUGE it has over 20 platforms from different train companies and the maps (contrary to Osaka) are only written in Japanese so we have to know the symbols in advance. Our first task is to find out how to get to our hostel to drop off our bags (and especially Cody's because he is carrying ALL his luggage since he is going back to the states from Tokyo). I ask for instructions at the information booth but I hear platform 5 instead of platform 15 so we wait at the wrong platform for almost an hour. Then I go back and ask and this time I here JUU go (15). So we hop on the Yamanote line, probably the most popular line in Tokyo because it does a loop around the big neighborhoods of Tokyo and has frequent departures. The size of the stations and number of wagons (15) are astounding here compared to Osaka.

This is a hot day and we barely manage to make it at the hostel with all the heavy luggage. We drop everything in the room and take a power nap. When we wake up we are ready to take the train back to city center and properly visit Tokyo. During this very long walk we visit Shinjuku west, where the administrative buildings and huge high rise skyscrapers are. We also go down to Shibuya, the most busy intersection on earth (estimated 3 million pedestrians per day cross here). I take a great picture while people cross, that looks like there is a demonstration, but it is just many many people crossing the street.

We continue down to Yoyogi park and around the Harajuku area and in the Yoyogi park we encounter many young Japanese going crazy on their guitars, drums and mics... It was interesting to be in a nice park but from behind the trees hearing 10 different bands competing on decibels.

We tried to contact two American friends that are also visiting in Tokyo.. but no response until now.

Last Night in Osaka - June 1 2007

After spending the day with the host family taking care of packing everything, in my case preparing my luggage for Tokyo, Hong Kong and Thailand, we also sent packages home by boat because we had too much stuff. Maybe it would have been less expensive to bring extra on the plane and pay extra... It would also be faster because it will take two months to arrive at my door in Montreal.

After the last dinner with Cody and the family, we made our way with Charles, our French friend, to the bus terminal near Namba. I wish I had pictures of this evening, but I think I mistakenly deleted them. This evening was quite surreal in many ways. We first got there the three of us, 2 hours ahead of time not knowing what to do. So we did what we do best when we are together and there is time to kill: grabbed some beer in the nearest convenience store and chugged down a couple of Asahi for good memories in the crowded streets of Namba. We were expecting a Japanese friend, Keisuke to join us so we didn't wander off too far, but just out of nowhere we bumped into my Canadian friend Charles (another Charles) with his girlfriend from Nagoya and his mother visiting from Quebec. It was a great coincidence and we had a good chat about Japan in general and about Tokyo because that is where they were coming from and that is where Cody and I were heading. In the midst of the conversation, Keisuke called to say he had arrived in Namba and he arrived with a gift: Japanese cakes... good! we have a snack for the 8 hour bus ride.

Then we slowly made our way back to the bus terminal and now we were expecting more Japanese friends to come and tell us goodbye... Some where just coming back from their part-time job and others from dinners but they all hurried to make sure they could come and tell us goodbye before we leave. Ayumi arrived and shortly after, Misaki and Makiko. Our best Japanese friends from school. They all brought small gifts for us, and they accompanied us to the loading point at the bus terminal and told us goodbye. It was great though to spend a few minutes all together again before we leave for Tokyo.

When the bus left, Cody told me he still didn't realize that he might never see these great people again, and that we will never be all together ever again. He was right, but I tried not to get sentimental and thought ahead, thinking that at 6:30 am tomorrow we would be in one of the biggest cities ever in the most busy train station on Earth. Shinjuku, Tokyo.

Last Kyoto trip - May 31 2007

Carla, Cody and I visited Kyoto for the last time today... Sadly it was a cloudy day, but we still had fun and visited the most famous temple in Kyoto: the golden pavillon. The temple was of course gorgeous but it would have been more spectacular on a sunny day to see the reflection in the lake. There were many visitors from all over but especially grade schoolers going around interviewing strangers to practice their English I guess.

When we exited the gardens we noticed there was a traditional Japanese tea house where we could sip Japanese green tea with a traditional "golden pavillon" treat. We tried it and the tea was sumptuous but overly priced. I was a bit disappointed that this was not a tea ceremony, but just having tea with a little treat in a nice tea house.

We then left for a restaurant called "Bikkuri Donkii" or Surprised Donkey. This restaurant is American-far-west themed and well themed at that. Cody and I had seen another franchise of this restaurant in downtown Osaka and had always wanted to go there so when we saw there was one in Kyoto we took the opportunity to go. The was alright and not too expensive.. the best part about the restaurant is the ambiance and the decor.

That day I told goodbye to Carla and gave her a rendez-vous in Hong Kong in two weeks.

Tomorrow we will be packing up and spending time with the host family because it will be the last day Cody will be there.

Moving out - May 30 2007

Today I officially moved out from the school's dormitory and into Cody's host family home. It was not too emotional departing the dormitories and I cannot say I miss the "host mother" of the dormitories because she was starting to be very irritating and nervous because of so-called security problems because the units are getting emptied as the tenants are vacating.

I will miss though the big kitchen, my favorite room in the dorm that was practically all mine because not many people cooked in my unit. This is where I tried to make Japanese food: Gyuudon, Okonomiyaki, Nikujaga ect..

I will not necessarily miss my roommate, but I hope everything is fine with him because he will be on his own in Japan until August... I did exchange contact info with one person in my unit, Marcello, the Brazilian. I told him I might visit in the summer of 2008.. that will be the subject of my next blog...

Unexpected plan - May 28 2007

I still have not found a place to stay for my last month in Japan, so I decided to join two friends I met at University, Carla from Ecuador and Gadil from Mexico in Hong Kong and Thailand before I go back to Japan for a bit until I return to Canada.

It is quite rare I make decisions at the last minute like this, but I discussed about her trip a little bit and I realized that it would also be possible for me to visit a little bit more of Asia before I leave.

For the sake of learning more Japanese language and culture, I would have stayed longer in Japan, but because I have this golden opportunity to travel in Asia, I will go ahead and visit some of Japan's neighbors.

Goodbye Party - May 26 2007

Today Cody's host family organized a farewell party and his friends (gaijin and Japanese) were invited to spend some time in this nice cozy house and wonderful family. Once again the house became a "Thyphoon" like the host mother likes to say because of all the children screaming and running about, the adults having political and philosophical discussions with us, the students and our voices getting louder everytime we finish one beer. Of course I presented a couple of magic tricks although I did not feel like it at all at the beginning, but eventually the magician inside me awakened and at the end I didn't want to stop. Next week I will be moving temporarily at Cody's host family for 2 days before we both head off for Tokyo. We are leaving for Tokyo on the 1st of June.

Universal Studios Japan - May 22 2007

Today I had a real treat: there were always conferences that I had the opportunity to attend throughout the semester, but never attended because of mainly lack of time. Since school is now over, I decided to go to my first business conference in Japan and it was a very nice conference, it was nothing like I had expected. The subject was also quite interesting to me: about theme park. The director general of Universal Studios Japan talked to us for an hour about the challenges of bringing Universal Studios in Japan and how they changed their budgeting and marketing strategies to make the park viable and make it successful.

At the end of the talk, we were invited to ride the ride that opened just last month called Hollywood Dream Ride, where you can choose a song and listen to it while you are riding the roller coaster! It felt really nice to visit the park while it is closed and have a private ride for the conference participants only!

Then there was a quite a nice reception with excellent food and I got to talk to the Marketing Director of Universal Studios Japan, who happened to be the marketing director of McDonalds Japan before.

The evening was topped off with some giveaways (I just love them!) of USJ merchandise and discount tickets on USJ entrance! Yey!

I left too late from the dorms so I was thinking about not going, but I went on my own and did not regret it!

Sotsugyou Omedetou - May 21 2007

Finally the semester is over! I could not see an end to it! I did not have any other time but studying, preparing papers or presentations! In the past week I had: 4 exams, 2 oral presentations and 4 papers due. Who says end of semester also says parties, and the parties started on Thursday right after my last exam and continue this week until Saturday! I am kind of getting tired of beer, I actually created an INtolerance to beer... now I am on water or juice... here is a run down of the parties:

Thursday May 17:

Dinner and drinking at Torikizoku, a nice izakaya with food items and very large beer mugs for 3$ a piece! Then we headed over to nomihodai (all you can drink) karaoke...







Friday May 18:

Break - I watched a movie called "GO" (again) about a North Korean raised and born in Japan.


Saturday May 19:

Graduation ceremony in the morning and then reception with free booze and food! I enjoyed the food very much and some people obviously enjoyed the booze too much.







Dinner at Niju Maru, all you can eat and drink... Very good Yakuniku (BBQ) and I didn't drink very much, but there were some drinking competitions and one Japanese went at it and felt very very bad after (poor him).






Sunday May 20:


Picnic at a park in Kozenji... spent the afternoon there peacefully just relaxing.

(No photos)

Monday May 21:

Went to another branch of Niju Maru but this time "a la carte" and the food was great, didn't drink that much either, but then went to a PURIKURA place, which is a big fad in Japan where mostly girls go in this complex machine to have pictures taken of them and then make drawings on them (see photos to understand) that was a must for me in Japan. Then we headed to a friend's place to watch a movie called "Doraheita" that I purchased in a videoclub here.

Prices in Japan - May 15 2007

Here is one good question that might be on everyone's mind in Japan at some point (maybe not for the Japanese): Why are prices so damn high in Japan?

Well, I looked into this issue and found a super good link that explains this in all sorts of ways and I also decided to write a paper on the distribution system in Japan (which is part of the explanation of high prices in Japan)... so if you are interesting in such issues and subjects please check out this link, if not, you can totally ignore this post...


Why prices are so damn high in Japan?


Disentangling the Dinosaur: The Japanese Distribution SystemJoel Kwan - PDF file

GO Hanshin Tigers! May 9 2007

Today was yet another adventure for me: I went to my first major league baseball game and it was in Japan! It is debated weather sumo or baseball is the national sport of Japan. In any case Japanese are huge fans of the sport and the most interesting part of a baseball game in Japan is not the game itself, but the fan support, encouragement and chanting for their teams (even when they are losing). The match tonight was between the Osaka Hanshin Tigers and the Tokyo Giants, bit opponents! I don't follow baseball at all, but the Tigers lost tonight, which makes their 8th loss in a row! Still, no one in the crowed seemed to be insulting the players or seemed frustrated, everyone seemed to be having some good, peaceful good time. I even heard a story of a noodle shop filled with Tigers fans and then Giants supports coming in and the Tigers fans started shooing them and then felt bad and excused themselves! During the match instead of hotdogs you can order squid on a stick and another great thing is that you can bring beer in.

Otaku Paradise - May 4 2007

After my shopping streak in Americamura I went to DenDen town to find collectibles for a friend that is an anime and manga enthousiast. I found figurines of Ichigo and Bukyaka (I have no idea what its about) in a store called The Sanctuary of Otaku... I don't know if I have addressed this yet in this blog, but Otaku in Japan are what Geeks are to America. They are a subculture in Japan that are known to be timid, unattractive and crazy about anime and manga. They are also known to be secluded from society and spend long amounts of time by themselves in their rooms. They are also known to go in so called maid cafes where waitresses are dressed in French maids and call the customers masters. In Osaka the number one spot to see Otaku is in denden town and in Tokyo it is Akihabara. There is was a popular drama and movie based on a real story that broke out on the internet about an Otaku falling in love with a sophisticated upper-class girl. I saw the drama and it was quite interesting.

Here is a spin-off special of the original "Densha Otoko" drama:

Shopping in Osaka - May 4 2007

I finally give into the shopping frenzy of Japan and shopped for new sunglasses and a baseball cap in Americamura, the fashion district of Osaka. I found all sorts of sunglasses ranging in price from 10$ to 150$, but I didn't want to spend so much money on glasses in Japan, so I settled with the 20$ Gino style glasses in Japan. (Look at the photo, some friends say I look Italian!)

Here we can take a small break and talk about fashion in Japan. The 80's style is IN! Long haircuts for guys (sometimes look like 80's hair bands!) for girls, short skirts is IN! The androgynous look, marketed by pop artists (see clip) is IN! and the boy next door look or rapper style is OUT. Also for boys, having big boots and tucking your pants in (we think that is too feminine!) is IN! Long hair extensions for girls is IN! And tanned skin is OUT!

Fashion catches like fire in Japan and when something becomes trendy, basically everyone has to wear it. Of course there are the more marginal trends like looking like a doll, or goth, or candy (see this website for examples of outlandish sytles:http://www.japanesestreets.com/).

But I think I have not seen the most original of Japanese fashion. I will have to go to Tokyo, Harajuku for that. Here in Kansai, things are pretty heterogenous, all boys generally style the same and same thing goes for girls.

EKISUPORANDO - May 3 2007

In my momentum of recent enthusiasm for theme parks, I decided to visit Expoland in Osaka today with 2 friends of mine and a visitor from China (the sister of one of my friends). Everything was pretty standard at this park, you can see pictures and reviews of this theme park here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/japan2004/expoland1.htm

***UPDATE*** On May 5th at 12:40PM the coaster called FUJIN RAIJIN derailed and 1 woman was killed with 21 injured. Details: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35254

The park was packed because it was Golden Week. At the ticket booths, we estimated they were making 1000$ every minute! We did not have time to ride everything because of the long lines, and the longest coaster on earth also happened to have the longest waiting time: 2h30! So we gave up on that one. They had the usual shooter rides and also a pretty cool haunted house that featured yet another samurai style beheading. They had a fireworks display at the end of the day which was nice. All that waiting in line in the sun (today was another hot day) gave me a nice tan! The best roller coaster was called OROCHI, a ride where your legs are dangling... the ride is so smooth and there are many twists, turns and loops, it feels like you are riding a jet. We also rode the FUJIN RAIJIN which is quite standard ride where you ride standing. They also had a funny walkthrough in freezing temperature of below 30 degrees celcius. This felt good on a hot day. There was also a big exhibit on anime character toys, that was quite typically Japan.

The day was filled with relentless excitement and lots of waiting, but it was well worth it, and for the price, it is much more worth it to go to Expoland than Hirakata Park.

Wakayama day three - Apr. 30 2007

On the third day in Wakayama, we basically woke up too late and could not go through our plan to visit Hongu, a small town that boasts the best hot springs in Kansai and a great temple with paths that go through mountains that doubles for a great place to hike. The original travel plan also included a visit to the tallest waterfall in Japan, complete with a temple in the scenery, but we had to choose between one or the other because of the high transportation costs. Today we missed the bus to go to Hongu by 10 minutes :(. So we were kind of stuck in KII-TANABE for the our last day in Wakayama. This day was far from uninteresting though. When we woke up we notice this sign at the hostel (see pictures) that said that the curfew was 10PM.. oups! Today was an extremely hot day, to the point that it was uncomfortable just to walk in the streets. We wanted to eat something cool and fresh, such as sushi, and we remembered that the hostess from the bar told us about this cheap and delicious sushi train but we didn't know how to get there. We asked some girls that seemed to be fascinated by our presence and asked us a bunch of questions. They were also surprised everytime we responded in Japanese. They told us the general direction, but told us it was far. We walked for about 10 minutes but gave up because of the heat. We turned around and walked back to the train station area and met the girls again and continued to talk with them a little bit. We also encountered Mormon missionaries! That was quite funny especially considering the fact that my American friend is from Salt Lake City, Utah and use to be a mormon. For lunch we ended up in a noodle shop and had cool noodles that you dip in a sort of sauce. It was the first time I had cool noodles, but for the temperature it was doing outside, we were not complaining.

When we returned to the terminal to find out about traveling to Hongu, we were quite disappointed to find out we were out of luck for transportation. We were thinking about going back to Osaka and cutting the trip short, but we decided to make the most of our day off and see what we could do in KII-TANABE. We first went to a small temple that was quite nice, and then headed back to the beach were we had spent the previous night drinking. We actually had a small dip in the water and that was quite refreshing. We also felt like we were aliens on the beach because one old man squated 5 meters from us and stared at us for minutes on end... My French friend called out "NANDE?" = why? and the old man slowly walked to another part of the beach to continue staring at us from far away. Two other girls seemed to have interest in us as they were saying all the English they knew, from far away and in a shy manner, indirectly and carefully trying to get our attention. When we started responding to them, first they were scared and ran further, and always came back slowly with more broken English sentences that you learn when you first start learning the language: how are you, what's your name? ect. The youngest girl, the most "intrepid" started chanting: I love Japan, do you? and when we responded in Japanese, there was again a big reaction of surprise. It was the beginning of the afternoon and we still had not given up on the sushi place and when they were confident enough to come talk to us directly, we asked them for directions for the sushi place. Again, the they didn't seem to know exactly how to get there, so they offered us to walk us to their father's business to get assistance from him. So we walked with both girls who seemed to be excited to be ambassadors to their city. When we arrived there, we felt ashamed to find out it was a restaurant! The father started looking up the place and the mother immediately called to find out if it was opened at that time. The mother told us not to go there and said it was cheap, but tasteless. I responded by saying many people in the town said it was delicious, and when the mother was not paying attention, the little girl confessed (in doing so contradicting her mother) that she thought it was the most delicious sushi in town. That was pretty cute. Just then, the father pulled up in his car and told us to hop in! We could not believe how kind the people were in this town. The sushi indeed was cheap and delicious, I ate over 20 pieces for 9$ !

Satisfied, after that great meal we headed back to the train station and it was time to say goodbye to KII-TANABE and Wakayama. This happens to be the nicest surprise in all my travels in Japan so far. I remember on the first day when we were on our way to KII-TANABE I felt tired and like going straight back to Osaka to spend our money on other things, I thought 6 hours of travel and 30$ wasn't worth it, but today I do not regret going through our travel plans.

Wakayama day two - Apr. 29 2007

Our day started quite early, around 8AM... I was out of cash so I had to stop at an international ATM so we went to the closest one, which was closed on Sundays, so we walked in other direction trying to remember where there was another one on the map we had seen back at the hostel. On our way there, some elders saluted us, so we started talking to them and asked them where was the closest international ATM and they told us it was quite far. One lady started to draw a map but they were all not sure how to get there, then all of a sudden the neighbor invites us in his car and offered to drive us there! We were all surprised again by this act of kindness. The feeling in this small town was like we were special guests.

Once I had the financial resources for the rest of the weekend, we took the bus to nearby town called Shirahama, known for it's beach and hot springs. When we got to Shirahama the first thing that struck us was the beautiful beach with its white, fine sand. We later found out that the sand was actually imported from Australia. We spent many hours on the beach just relaxing and throwing the Frisbee and at some point some Japanese kids joined us and tried to talk to us in English by consulting their built-in dictionary in their cell phones. They were so surprised to see we could understand and speak Japanese. I heard there parents say: What on earth? they can speak Japanese! People on the beach seemed to be fascinated by our presence and before we left took pictures with us. I asked directions to a man who seemed to be a Yakuza by the way he spoke but also with the tatoos that he had that extended from his back all the way to his hands. He happened to be very kind and told us how to get to one of the most famous hot springs in Japan. (see picture). Again, going to the hotspring is an integral part of Japanese culture and people go even when the weather is 25 degrees celcius (like today). I thought it was quite funny how men didn't care to expose themselves publicly (old woman were watching the men bathe and there was even a sort of pier that extended high above the see and stretch out and people at the top of that pier had an excellent view of the bathing men). Contrasted with the womens' side that was completely closed off and any attempt at trying to get a peek proved to be futile (we tried hard).

After the onsen we felt week and dizzy, we had not had a good meal since the beginning of the day and that is not a good idea in hot weather and when soaking in a hot spring... We had a chocolate and cocacola stop for temporary energy and then stopped at a small restaurant where I had some of the best curry rice in Japan.

The rest of the day in Shirahama was highlighted by a fireworks festival presented by me (I spent 40$ worth of fireworks), a visit in a nearby temple and then a funny situation where we had promised a taxi driver we would return by cab before 10PM, but finally decided to take the last bus back to KII-TANABE at 9pm because it was much cheaper. The bus actually passes right infront of the taxi stand so when it did pass right in front of the taxi stand we all ducted so the taxi driver could not see us in the bus!

Back in KII-TANABE we were in the mood for partying, so we went in the one street that stayed alive all night and it was a very active street for such a small town. We randomly entered a bar, imagining that everyone would stop talking and stare at us, but it did not happen like in the movies. The interesting thing about this bar is that they had cute hostesses tending right at the tables with the customers, they were there to make sure everyone has a good time and make sure everyone's glass is filled with beer. It was kind of cool but strange at the same time, but I guess it is a kind of modern Geisha. We were also scared because no one knew how it worked and we didn't know weather we should leave a tip or if there would be a hefty service charge. After 3 beers split amongst us (bottles that the hostess poured in our glasses), we decided to leave before we spent too much money, the beer was quite expensive (we assumed that is how we paid for the extra service). The hostess was very cute but seemed to have a very narrow view of life. She said she was always working there, never had time to travel, never traveled and the furthest she had been outside this town was Osaka. Although she did not seem genuinely interested in spending time with us, she did say that she had felt like she had traveled in Canada, France and the States after spending some time with us.

We were still on drinking mode after this visit, so we went to the convenience store got some beer and headed for a beach near our hostel. We drank and talked in the moonlight on the beach until quite late when both my Japanese and American friend decided to call it a day, but the Frenchman and I decided to go for one more beer for glory at the combini. We witness something quite odd: a totally drunk Japanese girl scurrying to the combini and returning to where she came from just as erratically. She had trouble walking she was so drunk. It was the first time both of us saw a drunk girl in Japan, we think that girls are known not to be drinkers here. (STEREOTYPE WARNING) We hypothesized that she was sent to buy beer by her boyfriend. We returned to the hostel around 4 am and dropped dead in our futon.