Meiji-Jingu

Last weekend I visited the Meiji-Jingu shrine near Harajuku in Tokyo. It was such a peaceful and beautiful place. I was even lucky enough to see a traditional Japanese wedding take place.

Joey

Social activity -study intermission-

Study intermission

Just a small collection of party photos in Japan

Joey

Naritisan Temple

Here we go then, my first Japanese temple post!

I recently went on a uni trip to Naritasan temple. It was a great experience. I`d never seen anything like it. The temple and the surrounding gardens were so beautiful. At the entrance to the temple you are asked to wash your hands and mouth in the washing place (I dont know the official name of the washing place), but anyway it`s like a big well with clean water running through it. There was a service taking place inside the temple and buddhist monks were singing while hundreds of people prayed.

Joey

Skylines

Here is a collection of photos from 3 cities I`ve visited since being in Japan.

Tokyo (Shibuya)

Chiba

Yokohama

Joey

Akihabara cont.

Capsule toy machines in Akihabara

Hello everybody, it`s been a while since ive posted a blog. I`ve been in hibernation over the past few days due to the fact im ill. I caught a coldy cough thing and today is the first time ive left the house for a little while. It was strange because while i was resting up in bed I was surrounded by `england` home comforts such as vegetable soup, `friends` dvds and my ipod. So when I left the house this evening It felt a bit strange being in Japan all of a sudden. I think ive lost all my Japan superpowers, but i`ll get them back.

Anyway, here`s the first of a few blogs I`ve been meaning to upload.

As Kalvin said we did indeed visit Akihabara. It is a completely mad place. Colourful, loud, busy and the best place to see the `weird Japan` you always here about in the west. Actually until visiting Akihabara I was yet to experience the darker, perverted under-belly of Japans animation culture. When you first visit this place you`re bombarded with huge posters of anime hero`s (many of which depict cartoon woman with large breasts and short skirts) they`re everywhere. Also, every street corner has a Japanese woman dressed in a french maid outfit handing out flyers.

It doesn`t take long to find your first anime/manga shop and it takes even less time to find the adult drawings, or "ero-manga" section. Every anime shop seemed to have an over 18 section. At first it`s kinda funny, drawings of naked women everywhere. Literally isles of the stuff. The trouble is once you delve a little deeper you uncover some very uncomfortable material. Walk around one of these place for more than 30 seconds and you wanna be out of there!

Anyway, Aside from the porn Akiharbara is a fantastic place! Bursting with energy and colour, it is the heart of `otaku` culture in Japan and the home of manga and anime.

Joey

Gettin` All Hentai in Chiba

I`m well aware of the fact that Joey has been out blogging me by some margin, so this is my attempt to readdress the balance.

Basically, things have really taken off in uni and our timetables for the week are slowly getting filled with Japanese lessons, Design classes, conversation buddys and homework. Lots of homework...

We have also been busy on the social scene and have been hanging out with our new best friends.

There`s a whole load of stuff to put up but we`ve just been too busy to get to the internet (Something we still can`t access without going into town!) But we do now have some radical bikes. We`ve mastered the Japanese roads and doing some tricks on them is surely only a few days away. Some of our classmates have fallen into rice fields on their way home though already...

Anyways, Here are some photos of when we went to a city called Chiba (about 30mins away from us) and we found a big Japanese toy store, although the toy stores over are not alway for the kiddies...



It started off pretty normal, robots and figures...



They also had rows and rows of normal everday things but in minature format...

But then we started to unveil the seedier under belly of Japanese toy making...

Having lived here before I kind of knew what to expect (although still always find myself suprised) but I think Joey was genuinley shocked/ suprised at how popular it is and how close to the edge it can be sometimes.
We recently went to Akihabara (Known by most as the geeks mecca) where this kind of thing thrives. It`s a lot more graphic there and makes this stuff look tame but it`s still suprisingly easy to find and sometimes lies right next to childrens toys and games.

I`m sure Joey will explain a lot better when he next gets the time.

Anyways, I`ll leave you with a few photos from our Japanese classroom.