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august 2008
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nostromo in hello-kitty land, day 13

last day for me in the land of hello kitty, shrines, temples
and nekomimi-maids. i wish i would have booked three weeks. but
my feet hurt, i have blisters on my toes and heels, my left
lower leg hurts with every step i do, my shoes are pretty worn
out, and i'm just very tired, and every muscle of my body is
tensed up. so two weeks of sightseeing are a bit exhausting.
nonetheless it was worth it.
i forgot to add some comments on yesterday's bLog-entry. what i
had for lunch (day 12, picture [99]) yesterday was eight pieces
of sushi, and four pieces of maki for 530YEN (that's about
3.15EUR), some "hello kitty" cookies for 200YEN (that's about
1.20EUR), chocolate for 89YEN (52cent), and a can of "kirin chu-
hi" for 201YEN, which is a mix of "syochu" (alcohol destilled
from either sweet potatoe, or rice) and lemon. 
today's program startet with a visit to the "tsukiji wholesale
market"[001-034] where one can find vegetables and all kind of
sea-food and fish. in fact this is the biggest fishmarket in the
world (at least my guide says so). in the hall where they sell
fish there were several animals i had never seen before in my
life. a walk just from one side to the other side of the hall
took me about 15mins. so the area is really really huge. inside
they chop off heads and tails, disembowel fish, and cut it into
handy pieces, which they sell afterwards. unfortunately i only
like sweet things in the morning, so i did not buy or eat any
fresh fish. the area is pretty busy and quite dangerous for
incautious tourists, since there are driving all kind of
vehicles to tranpsort the fish from one place to the other. so
there was a constant movement throughout the entire inside and
outside of the halls.
i went on and was searching for the nearest underground station,
when i accidently found the "hama-rikyu"[036-083] gardens.
notice the ticket-number as shown in picture[037]. "hama-rikyu"
was a very beautiful garden with loads of ponds, bridges, trees
and a tea house[061-073] where they perform a tea ceremony. i
went inside the house and got cold tea (with foam on top of it)
and a little cake. additionally i was handed out a paper that
describes in detail all the steps to be taken to perform the
ceremony correctly (in english!). i really tried my best, and i
hope i did perform not that bad. the tea was excellent, and has
a unique taste - definitely recommendable. 
on my way to my next stop i passed by several
skyscrapers[086-098], and i was fascinated by the reflections
and geometries, so there are a few experimental pictures in-
cluded.
again another attraction i found by accident kept me from
getting on the underground train. this time there was some
activity in the "shidome sio site"[099-119]. i especially liked
the "monkey-boy"[105-106] since he really enjoyed what he was
doing. in a toy shop i found another "studio ghibli"[112-118]
corner as almost every toy store has. japanese love "hello
kitty" and "studio ghibli" stuff. and so do i, so i went in and
took some pictures.  i bought some white chocolate again. this
time a "dars" bar for 98YEN (about 60cent).
and then, finally, i made it to my planned destination, namely
the "tokyo tower"[125-155], a copy of the eiffel tower, but 33
meters taller. i enjoyed the view over tokyo and another "hello
kitty" souvenir shop inside the tower.
then i met with Kaze_ again, since i asked him if he wants to
join me to the shrine i did not find yesterday. he said yes, so
we went there together. so i finally made it to the "imado jinja
shrine"[166-179], dedicated to the "maneki neko", better known
as the "lucky cat", "welcoming cat", or "fortune cat". Kaze_ and
i loe cats, and there were many cats (though not living ones).
i bought two cat-emas[178] wrote my wishes on one of them, and
hung it next to the other emas. the other one i took with me as
a souvenir. i'm glad i went there, and this time to the right
shrine.
afterwards Kaze_ and i had some japanese sweets, called "anmit-
su"[182], that's fruits, small cubes of agar jelly, "azuki
beans" (the black things), "azuki beans paste" (the brown
thing), and black syrup. and came by the three meters high
lantern again, as seen in picture[042] on day 08. this time i
took a photo from the bottom of the lantern[181]. then we went
to a restaurant where i got sake[183] and "shogayaki"[181]
("shoga" is ginger, "yaki" is to fry) with pork. as usual very
delicious! i really will miss the variety of japanese food.
later we went to a bookstore where i bought some cat manga.

random fact about tokyo: during my tokyo trip there was not a
single accident on the street. i think this is due to the fact
that the people are simply polite and friendly in every aspect
of their live, and this also includes road traffic. i already
mentioned in an earlier facts-section that pedestriants and
cyclists share the pavement but there was not a single scolding.

thanks for reading my bLog. tokyo, i will miss you...

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nostromo in hello-kitty land, day 12

today was bit frustrating. for the first time during my visit in
japan i was searching for a specific shrine. this shrine is not
listed in my pocket-guide, so i was searching for it on the
internet. since tokyo is the town "where the streets have no
name" (and this is meant literally!), i wrote down the "address"
i got from an internet-site, which is "1-5-22, imado, taito-ku,
tokyo, 111-0024". this means i've been searching for "imado" in
the "taito" ward, area 1 in this ward, block 5, house number 22.
i thought that would be easy, but instead i got this: "A" is
where i have been to, "B" is where i wanted to go. so i've
wasted almost three hours to get there, find the wrong place, and
return to my other stops i've planned to visit today. i missed
the shrine though i've asked all together three people that all
gave me the same directions. tokyo is a bit strange from time to
time. but since i found out where to go now ("B"!), i will waste
another three hours tomorrow on my last day here in tokyo to get
there - i _really_ want to go there! but (hopefully) more about
this location tomorrow. but on my way to the wrong spot i took
at least some pictures[03-07]. this is by the way the same area
that was partially closed due to the sumida river fireworks (see
day 08, picture [35]).
my next stop was the "ginza"[08-30] ward, the noble part of
tokyo. not really my style, but a nice impression though.
according to my pocket-guide there should be a huge "sanrio"
shop (you know, the "hello kitty"-stuff producers), but i did
not find it. so i think my guide is a little bit out-dated, or i
failed again at finding specific stuff here in tokio. again
pretty frustrating. as there were no other shops that interested
me, i took the next train to "shibuya"[31-97].
my pocket-guide suggest to start the "shibuya" tour at the "ha-
chiko"[34-35] monument. "hachiko" was the dog of a professor
at the tokyo university who was waiting for his master's return
at the station every day. when the professor died, the dog
still came to the station until he also died - which was seven
years later. that's the story according to my guide...
next sight is the busiest pedestrian crossing[37-43] in the
world (again, according to my guide). notice that all traffic
lights for pedestrians switch to green at the same time.
then i followed the crowd to various shopping streets in the
area, with more or less well known shop-brands[45-54].
i soon got near the "NHK broadcasting center"[56-73], a tele-
vision company for tokyo, well known for "domo-kun"[73]. once
more everything was in japanese, except the "no photographs",
and "exit" signs. nonetheless, it was a nice visit to "NHK
studiopark". aimed at children, it described the way a tv show
is produced. but that's ok for me, i had fun too. nice feature:
they had a 3D-television that really worked without extra
glasses or other additional devices - quite impressive.
then, by accident, i found a shrine[84-85]. but not what i got
used to find when visiting a shrine, because this one was a
"modern" one. totally surrounded by concrete, steel, and glas,
this was the strangest shrine i've seen so far.

random fact about tokyo: for several days i'm running around
with stamps in my bag, but only found two shops where postcards
are sold. since the postcards i've seen so far were very boring,
i always wanted to wait to find some better ones. well, tomorrow
is my last day, and i'm having troubles to find some postcards
at all.

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nostromo in hello-kitty land, day 11

suprise, suprise - only one shrine today! today was almost
entirely dedicated to the gardens in the center of tokyo.
first park was the "kitanomaru park"[002-062]. inside this park
is the "nippon budokan"[006-030], an arena for all kind of
martial arts tournaments, or concerts. it turned out there was a
"kendo" tournament for kids today. outside the huge arena were
all kind of teams doing warmup or keeping on the practice.
"kendo" seems to be a quite loud sport, as the kids were
screaming very loud all the time. i decided to enter the arena
and watch the tournament for a while. loads of people inside
(mostly parents and relatives of some kid participating in the
tournament, i guess) stared at me. i soon realized i was, most
probably, the only non-asian person in the arena. nonetheless i
enjoyed the tournament.
next stop was the disputed "yasukuni"[035-056] shrine, with all
kind of war relicts like kamikaze-bombers, huge canons and the
like. too much strange stuff offered around the shrine, so i
went on. when entering (or leaving) the shrine one has to pass
by the "tayasumon gate"[031].
i also passed by the "science museum"[062], but did not enter
(too time consuming). instead i headed for the "east gardens of
imperial palace"[063-115]. right next to the east gardens is the
"kokyogaien"[116-134], a huge open area with neatly cut grass,
bushes and trees - very british (at least that was my im-
pression). i also saw the shift changeover there of the imperial
guards[125-131].
then it was time for some sweets again. this time i was more
cautious (due to the "dango" disaster, see picture [072] of day
10) and bought something that looked familiar to me. so i got
this "marugotobanana"[135]. biscuit filled with cream and a real
banana inside. very very tasty! i wish i had some coffee with
it. but instead of coffee i had "godzilla"[137-138] as
companion. then i drove home.
meal for today: a la cart menu[145], since the menu card had
pictures, so i could just point on it, as the staff did not talk
english. the waitress then also gave me a second menu card with
three pictures of unknown meal on it. one looked like salad so i
thought i do the save choice. once the meal was served i ate
some salad and it tasted strange. so i had a closer look at what
i was eating. i took a picute of my "salad"[146]. yes, that's
tiny little fishes in my salad. so here's what i had ordered,
from left to right: "katsudon" ("tonkatsu", that's deep-fried
pork cutlets, in a bowl), "daikon" (the "salad" in the back-
ground), and "miso shiro" (the soup). the meal was very tasty,
except for the "daikon" which was interesting, but not something
i would order again. nonetheless i ate it all. yammi.

random facts about tokyo: women like high-heels, but (almost)
all of them can't walk with them. for most women it does not
look elegant, but rather clumsy. additionally women tend to turn
their toes towards each other, so it looks like they are having
knock-knees, though their feet are just perfectly normal when
they stand still.

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nostromo in hello-kitty land, day 10

day 10 was, once more a rather relaxing day. first of all the
daily dosis of shrining! starting with "yushima seido"[002-022],
and the next one just a few meters further down the street
"yushima tenjin"[025-044] shrine. once more a picture of the
"kuro neko"[045-046] ("black cat") parcel service. i love that
logo - meow.
next stop was a visit to the "kyu iwasaki tei" garden. a garden
that belonged to the "mitsubishi" founder "iwasaki yataro". in
the garden is his house that has a western-style part and a
traditional part. at the entrance i had to put off my shoes, so
i was walking barefoot on red carpet, that was laid out all over
the corridors. inside no photography.
on my way to my next stop i saw a man standing near a bush,
staring at it. so i stared there too, and saw a chirping little
bird[056-058]. it seemed it has fallen out of the nest. another
person came there to look at the bird, and then the three of us
started to search for the nest in the nearby trees. but no luck.
so the man took the bird, and said (with typical japanese-
accent) "police station", and nodded heavily. i thought... hm...
ok, why not. policemen seem to be contacted for really everything
here in tokyo, it seems. so the man walked away with the little
bird in his hands. the thought of him at the police-station with
the little bird actually made me smile.
after another few minutes walking i came to the "tokyo todai"[064-
080] ("tokyo university") that is the elitist university in
tokyo, but the buildings are rundown and shabby. at a conveni-
ence store i bought some japanese sweets[071-072] and an unknown
drink (printing on the tetrapack was all just japanese). the
drink was delicious, i think it was some kind of yoghurt-drink
or so, but the sweets were way too sweet. i ate one skewer, and
i started to feel sick - too bad. i decided not to eat the rest.
i felt sick for several hours then. but, at least i tried some-
thing new on the food sector...
"kanda myojin"[091-105] shrine was next to get my full daily
dosis. it was on my way to "tokyo dome"[110-149], another fun
fair in tokyo. attraction here is definitely the rollercoaster
that is built around a building here. i also noticed a "moomin
bakery & cafe"[120-128], and went inside for a coffee. i found
loads of mummin stuff and big stuffed mummin creatures sitting
right at some tables. like all merchandising stuff (like studio
ghibli or mummins) everything was pretty expensive (compared to
similar products). yet i liked it and enjoyed my caffee, sur-
rounded by mummin creatures.
then i went home to take a shower and get to "akihabara" again
to meet Gullevek, who lives in tokyo for over three years now.
i asked him if he would like to join me going to a cosplay
restaurant, preferably a maid-restaurant where the girls wear
cat-ears (yeah, right, again "nekomimi"-stuff - i like it!).
several girls offered flyers for various cosplay restaurants on
the street, but the services changed from cooking to massages
(facial, foot, back, or hand). one offered massage and chocolate.
hm... ok, why not. but this is not what i wanted. we finally got
a flyer from a cute maid with cat-ears (unfortunately she didn't
like to be photographed). it turned out to be the cafe i already
took a photo of its flyer on day 04, picture [94], which i
thought was an advertisement for another cat-cafe. unfortunate-
ly inside the cafe no photos were allowed. not even pictures of
the meal i had. i had rice with beef and japanese curry sauce.
very spicy, very delicious. Gullevek ate some sort of pancake
with rice filling. it is served with ketchup, and the
nekomimi-maid came with the plate, drew a cute cat face on it,
and finally placed the plate on the table. but again, no pic-
tures allowed. i think if i would live in tokyo i would visit
this kind of restaurant pretty often. very very cute nekomimi-
maids are something i will definitely be missing at home. poor,
poor me.

random facts about tokyo (as told by Gullevek): i already had
noticed there are no dustbins around throughout tokyo. he told
me there once were dustbins, but due to terrorist threats they
were all removed from one day to another. instead there were
signs saying one should take their garbage to their home. due to
stalking incidences many cosplay cafes forbid taking pictures of
the waitresses.

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nostromo in hello-kitty land, day 9

day 09 is a sunday, and sunday means "yoyogi park"-time! or, in
other words: seeing japanese youth culture live-performing all
around in the park. to me, this means a relaxing sunday with a
rather high WTF???-factor, but not much to do than just staring,
listening, taking pictures, and strolling around.
but to get to "yoyogi park" i had to walk down "takeshita
dori"[001-011], a street full of fashion shops for more alter-
native styles like punks, gothic lolitas, hip hop dancers, etc.
(btw, pictures from day 04, [001-042] were taken right next to
today's locations).
so the first ones i met outside the park were all kind of gothic-
lolitas, and other people in interesting outfits[013-050]. i
think there's not much to say about it, just get an impression
by the pictures yourself.
in the park a gaggle of rockabillies[051-076] was dancing and
having fun (with typical haircuts). look at the timestamp of the
pictures, as later there will be some more pictures of the group.
they were dancing all the time! also notice the shoes[058]. when
i came by later there were all kind of parts from their shoes
laying around. heavy dancing!
next i saw several bands[078-105] with all kind of music genres
and with more, or less skills. a band i really liked was
"vale"[087-090]. so i sat down and listened to their music for
quite a while. it turned out they only had three songs to
perform, but they did that in an excellent way. they gave away
free CDs, so i took one and donated some money.
besides loud music there were also all kind of "permformances",
like this guy with nuchakus[107-109], who was really impressing.
unfortunately only a few pictures turned out to be in focus. a
group of japanese hippies[110] (though their clothes were really
moderated) was also there, like other groups, of which i could
not find out what they were actually doing. maybe some tailor-
ing, or acting, or both? who knows.
then some cosplay (short for "costume play") and other fancy
dressing[121-131] again, with a real cute maid[118-119].
kawaiiii!
some skateboarders[120] were there too and a police officer
stoping at them to talk with them. but it looked more like a
friendly talk and no giving orders or the like. the police
officer drove on and the skaters went on doing their tricks.
back to the rockerbillies again[132-133] - same people, doing
the same dance for (at least) two hours.
and finally another band[134-140] with cute costumes and loads
of fans as it seemed. afterwards i decided to listen to some
more "vale"[141-142] music and returned to their location. in
the meantime it started to rain (though it was more a light
drizzle), but this didn't cool down the air a bit. on the
contrary, the sultiness grew. by 17:00 (and due to the ongoing
rain) most of the performers had already packed and left their
open-air stages. so i also headed for the train station, and
found a beautiful japanese garden[150-156] on the way. since i
got a little hungry i tried this "soyjoy"[158] bar, but the soya
joy was non existent actually. it tasted ok, but the consistency
of the bar was a bit strange.
when i got off the train there was a beautiful sunset with an
dark red sky. unfortunately i didn't make it to the tenth floor
of my hotel in time, so there are no good pictures of the
sunset. too bad. since today i wanted to have maki[165], there's
no new food report. maybe i'll try something yet unknown to-
morrow, let's see.
ah, and today i bought another "nekomimi"-girl "gashapon" - this
is another cat girl (with cat-ears = "nekomimi") in a capsule
("gashapon"). this time i got the black one - yippieh! (see
picture[097], on day 04). i also discovered that power napping
is a great thing, since it can take quite a long time to get to
some station and that's a good opportunity while sitting on the
train to relax a bit.

random facts about tokyo: most taxis have doors that open
automatically, so the passenger can get on more easily. loads
of people have some kind of washrag they use to wipe away
the sweat. i bought one too in the cat store i visited on day 07
(see picture [116]), of course with a cat on it - pretty
convenient, as it's hot all the time and there are lavatories
all over tokyo where one can wash it from time to time.

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