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.