Sam & Crowie in Japan

ok another few days gone

2008-04-15T00:39:00.010+12:00

The day after Disneyland we went to Osaka... it took about 2.5 hours to get there on the bullet train... we got there a bit later than we thought so we didnt have much time... we went to Universal Studios... but before that we went to a revolving sushi trainhouse! it was so much fun! and crowie actually ate weird sushi n loved it!

anyways Universal Studios was fun!!! the japanese LOVE lining up! so because of the hectic long lines to every ride (just like disneyland...3 hour waiting lines EK) we just went on one

the Jurrasic Park ride!! it was so fun! the drop at the end of the ride was sooo STEEP you literally lifted off the seat then smash into water...

i still love HELLO KITTY!!!

Sunday in Yoyogi Park!

these guys were called Sweet Rockers and they danced and drank all day here...
they were heaps fun to watch we got a fight between them and a policeman on tape

A day in Ueno
we had a picnic of sushi

and yakisoba

cherry blossoms

then onto Tokyo Museum

a night in Roppongi

Sangenjaya our apartment area... last night... weve moved onto Kyoto now.. thankfully... tokyo just rained 70% of the time

our new fave restaurant in kyoto... its 2 seconds away from our hotel...

this is gross but we have to show you the MEGA MAC... its a big mac... but with 4 bits of meat.... crowie had this for lunch...

so these photos are from NARA we went to the Nara Deer Park
it was the coolest day so far!!!
we took like 700 photos but ill only chuck a few deer ones up...

disneyland

2008-04-07T00:38:00.012+12:00

So here's some photos from a few days ago...

We've been using a film camera and video camera alot more thus the lack of photos to put on here...
anyways heres a random photo...

people picnic-ing under the cherry blossom!

in tokyo most of the trees are starting to drop there sakura so it doesnt look so pretty anymore... its also been POURING the past few days... so its been cold and everything is soaked

Anyways... we went to Disneyland last Friday! it was the BEST TIME EVER!!!!

here are some photos...

ok we have more photos to come... this page is just so slow at adding photos so i sorta can't be bothered... but ill sort more pics out tonite and put them up!!!

we have another day and a bit in tokyo left then we are moving onto Kyoto... to stay in a hotel... :D

p.s. caddy if you read this can you check your myspace email thing...

Odaiba

2008-03-31T15:10:00.008+13:00

So this post is for two days ago... On Saturday we went to Tokyo Bay.... Odaiba...
We took the monorail over which was a nice change from the trains...

view from monorail...

o and a saw just in the middle of the ground...

anyways take note of the LINEUP in these next photos...
look carefully coz they don't end... and the line didn't end for like 2 kms!!!

sooo many people here for one stupid/geeky thing...

the 2008 Animae Convention... BOOOOO... this also was crowie's IDEA

the waiting in line part was way more fun than actually being in there...

there was just soooo many animae nuts crammed into one space...

oooo hardcore card swapping... i think...

anyways the fun part was the "amusement park" a few stations back
no rollercoasters... but we managed to put nearly $50 thru those stupid claw games...
also crowie flogged me at air hockey .... :(

o yeah here he is... riding a PANDA thru the games area...

then a 16 minute ride on the ferris wheel...

Anyways the last two days have been quiet... its so cold and today tis pouring... we've still managed to spend heaps of money... oooo and we had an earthquake yesterday which was cool!!!

Kamakura

2008-03-28T23:00:00.008+13:00

Today was awesome!
we were on our way to see the Great Buddha of Kamakura - Daibutsu when we passed the Hase-Dera Temple!
the place was pretty big and had shrines, ponds, walking path! and the best views...

this is crowie's photo contribution...

and crowie's hand lighting a candle offering at one of the shrines...

and my insense!

cherry blossoms!!!

we walked Prospect Road! it felt heaps high up... we actually SAW and HEARD eagles!!! it was awesome.. and the views were cool too!!!

pond! with the mandatory carp or koi...

when you went thru this it was like cave... a very LOW cave... there were candles and little statues and shrines everywhere...

can someone tell us can we bring stuff like this and other ninja stuff home? or does border security take it off us?

Daibutsu!

this statue is HUUUGE... and its so much better looking at it when its a metre away from you!

a man posing as the buddha.. haha

this is the inside of the buddah.... its so dark in there...

today was one of the BEST days we had... except when we got home it started to RAIN.... here's our Shibuya... all rainy...

its so cold here RIGHT now... so were staying in to watch the "Giants" loose there baseball game to the "Tokyo Swallows"...
tomorrow were going to Odaiba... because the 2008 Animae Fair is on!

Ebisu

2008-03-28T02:44:00.003+13:00

The cherry blossoms are OUT... im hoping one drops on me while im under it!!! this was on the way to the bus stop...

Crowie picked today... 2mins away one station over is Ebisu...

So we went to Yebisu Garden Place to check out the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography... which was good...

then around the corner there just so happened to be the Yebisu Beer Museum ...

where you could sample there beer...

Emperial Palace Tokyo & Ginza

2008-03-26T23:14:00.006+13:00

Well today we set out for the Imperial Palace... the photos arn't that great today SORRY but it was sunny and warm(ish) and i wanted to wear thongs but it wasn't THAT warm...

o yeah he's my cute next door neighbour... she's not too friendly and she doesn't take a great picture.. she's heaps smaller and cuter in real life...

anywhoo Tokyo station...

this park has sooo many homeless in it... i am really suprised at such a clean, rich country the amount of homeless people seem heaps more than australia... this whole park every few meters someone was sleeping on the ground... they seem harmless but its insane the amount when you go past them...

not the best view of the Imperial Palace... but what can you do...

random monk in the middle of Ginza...

Ginza is a VERY expensive, glitzy, designer area... we paid a FORTUNE for our lunch... which if you EVER come to Ginza don't eat at any indian restaurants upstairs above a shopping mall... they were sooo rude... and a rip off... sorry i forgot there name... but they sucked!!!

the BEST thing about Ginza which i didn't take a photo of was the Hakuhinkan Toy Park! it was again a few stories of TOYS... we bought some stuff but i can't post pics because they're presents for my dad :)

Our Apartment

2008-03-25T20:30:00.010+13:00

sorry these photos don't really give a true feel of how SMALL our apartment is... lol... seriously for approx $25 a night per person i ain't complaining... obviously to stay in an apartment for so cheap you need to stay for a month... which is fine by us...

our place seems to be in a pretty safe area (o yeah is the psyco japanese killer thats on the loose all over the news in Australia? coz he's on everything over here)... there's alot of little old ladies on bicycles riding around...

were about a 5km walk to Shibuya which is one of the main areas that makes up Tokyo... on the way theres an awesome supermarket called Marusho which i had to mention coz its so cute and the people are so nice!... there's also a Pachinko parlour, heaps of small hole in the wall restaurants, a cat cafe, a vet, a stamp shop etc...

anyways our apartment is one of three in the "sakura house" area...

o yeah Mum you will be in shock at how clean it is... lol we actually cleaned up this morning... ok well crowie did.. i watched

this is the bike bay... everyone loves riding bikes around here...

comon in... lol.. lame

our washing machine which we used this morning... after a few attemps... we then had to hang our washing outside on coathangers! coz that's what they do here!!!!

this is our bin area... you have to seperate "burnable" from "non burnable" and make sure theres no paper or plastic in the wrong bins and no liquid in any of them! THEN you have to put the bins out on certain days...
mon & thurs = kitchenwaste, paper/woodchips, clothes, cigerette filters and paper diapers...
sat = plastic containers, lightbulbs, glass, batteries and spraycans
fri= sorted newspapers, magazines, cardboards, glassbottles and cans

this is our wardrobe... lol you prolly didnt need to see that but there's more room in here than in the bedroom!

this is our fridge... it contains skippy peanut butter, asahi beer, soy sauce, jap strawberry lollies, water...

this is our bathroom.... it has a toilet, sink, bath which you wouldnt sit in coz its tiny and a shower (one of those stupid ones where you only need HOT on... grrr)
its VERY tiny and you end up smashing your elbows into the walls... and coz the walls are very thin the guy 3 rooms over heard you...

our kitchen sink... boring.. except for my cute mug

our adorable little toaster oven!!!! we use this every morning for our peanut butter toast!!!

our hanging light.. its got a koala on it

my bed!!! crowie seriously gets the futon which is folded up on the end of the bed... the bed is the size of a childs! and every night is the worst nights sleep ever!!! lol... i know it sounds like i hate this place.... i DON'T i just hate the bed...
can you see tofu pillow in this pic? isn't she cute?!!!

our study area... hahah this is our teeny desk... do you like crowie's towel? its got frogs on it... mine have strawberries... we got them from an old guy at the train station...

the view from our window which i only saw this morning for the first time... since it wasn't raining..

well tonite were staying in coz were going to do more sightseeing tomorrow morning... were going to watch Planet Terror (we watched Deathproof last night which i LOVED but crowie didnt) and eat our gyoza and yakitori dinner while crowie drinks asahi and i drink nothing...

:D bai bai!

Ikebukuro

2008-03-24T21:38:00.005+13:00

well Crowie woke up at like 1pm today so we havnt done much... lol but we did go down to Ikebukuro again coz i knew they sold a particular stuffed pillow/toy thing that i wanted to buy....
she was in Sunshine City in a shop called Passport... and if i could fit more in my suitcase i would!!!

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how adorable is she?
She's a TOFU pillow!

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then we went to HMV and i got Grindhouse Boxset... and i got a free mad poster with it!!!

and we went to TOYS R US and i got a mini Blythe doll! how cute is her outfit...

and also in the Passport shop i got this adorable like lunch cooler bag!!

and i got this the other day in Kiddyland...
GLOOMY BEAR!
if you get the chance... Youtube gloomy bear!

Were gunna go watch Grindhouse now... its VERY VERY cold and rainy outside... the whole of Japan seem to have the flu and now so do i!

I really will post apartment pics tomorrow... i just have to clean up... BLEH

Hope yas had a happy easter/ long weekend!
xo

Harajuku

2008-03-24T01:09:00.016+13:00

This was last nights dinner...
btw Grapefruit Smirnoff is soo much better than Guava

This is the cute little crib that resides nextdoor... they have the cutest little black kitty... it probably doesn't look that interesting but its nice to look at in the morning...

on the way to Harajuku ...

Kiddyland is the bomb! its about 6 floors full of soft toys, kids stuff, hello kitty and on the top floor has the coolest collector toys! i bought a Gloomy Bear figurine!!!

Then we went over to Meijii Park markets...

and had Takoyaki and the BEST yakisoba EVER

A random walking around with a MONKEY!

More sakura!

everyone's already getting their Hanami Party on!!!

This still wasn't peak hour!!! but Harajuku Station was insane today!!!

We walked over to the Meijii Shrine

FREE HUGS... and yeah crowie hugged a random MAN!!!

anyways tomorrow were just gunna have a chill out day since everyday we go out we get lost and end up walking around for literally hours...

Shinjuku

2008-03-22T22:56:00.008+13:00

This photo wasn't even taken in peak hour...

Today we were meant to go see a shrine... but we didnt get that far coz we were sorta lost...

We went to Shinjuku Gardens... the place was massive so were going to come back next week and picnic under the cherry blossom trees... it looked like everyone was already doing that today since the start of the season had arrived...

we made a little friend... his name was Christian ( i think) isn't he beautiful???!!!

more cherry blossoms!

ooo and we had FRESHNESS BURGER for lunch... there's another place around called MOS BURGER... they are rivals so were gunna taste MOS BURGER another day... but FRESHNESS BURGER was pretty fresh

tomorrow HARAJUKU again!!! but its a Sunday and the place is full on... and there's a temple across the street... so hopefully it will be another beautiful day!!! with NO RAIN OR WIND PLEASE

best day so far!

2008-03-21T21:02:00.011+13:00

Ok so theres a few photos on here... and unless your a female or a child you probably wont like them...

today was really cold again so we headed for an area called the Keio Tama Centre where Sanrio Puroland (Hello Kitty Land) was at!

we watched Hello Kitty in the Nutcracker... crowie loved it

lunch.... it may look cute... but LIVIA i will never try "pork bun" ever again

upstairs were HEAPS of hello kitty vending machines, sticker photo machines and games!!!
this is me with hello kitty... i think if u got in the back of her she was like a car... or something

then we went on a ride... it was AWESOME... there were so many Sanrio characters there!!! it was so adorable!

this is where we just had dinner at... Zest Mexican... its a block and a half over from our apartment...

i love the inside of this place! its awesome!

this is my mug i got today at hello kitty land... and my hello kitty pjs lauren got me before i went!!!

ANYHOO tomorrow were going to Shinjuku... to do more shopping i guess... its the weekend and everything will be crazy packed out so were saving the touristy things til next week...

OH YEAH!!!! the first cherry blossom of the season bloomed today it was all over the news... i think they were saying it was in Roppongi... but either way its sakura season and the japanese are mad for it!!!!

HAPPY EASTER and LONG WEEKEND everyone!!!

Ikebukuro

2008-03-20T21:36:00.004+13:00

It rained HEAPS today... so like yesterday we didn't goto Hello Kitty land or Disneyland!!! :(
we went to Ikebukuro... its meant to be pretty boring or whatever but we thought it was pretty cool... mainly coz i spent too much money in the hello kitty shop!

some midget thing

Hello Kitty!!! best store EVER

This is GYOZA LAND...

Astro Boy... yes these characters walk around in the most random of places...

then we went to the Aquarium!!!

PURIKURA!!!

2008-03-19T23:44:00.004+13:00

i love this shit!!!!

notice all the sakura we put on the photos!!!

Asakusa

2008-03-19T21:53:00.008+13:00

Ok so no Hello Kitty Land today... we went to Asakusa instead...
it was definately the COLDEST day so far... it even rained! so sorry that these photos don't look very cheery

We went and saw the Sensojii Temple... it was pretty crowded for a weekday...

we paid our hundred yen and shook out our fortune... crowie got number 31 which happened to be the worst fortune... i got 99 which was the best fortune... HAHA

poor little lady dropped her money... she got all disorientated...

poop building

this is all fake food.. its EVERYWHERE and coz its an "art" to make it, it costs a fortune

lunch... hey Twan its pork they didn't have any dog burgers -crowie

Akihabara & Ueno

2008-03-19T00:57:00.008+13:00

Here's our crib...

this was on a little kids playground...

this is Akihabara... home of manga, animae and lots of electronics...

this chick was trying to get guys into her "cafe"... ALOT of them dress like this...

Ueno Zoo!!!

this photo is for caddy... im the one in the bow u can be the other one...

we've spent about 50% of our money on these machines!!!

we walked around Ueno koen after the zoo... in one week the place will be drenched in cherry blossom fever!!!

ok so the first photo isnt really our apartment... its around the corner from it...
tomorrow i think were going to HELLO KITTY LAND!!!
AND the main reason we keep posting everyday is so we dont forget where n when the photos got taken...
AND..... my straightener doesn't work in japan!!! :'(

Harajuku & Shibuya

2008-03-17T22:20:00.010+13:00

Today we literally walked like 7 hours around Shibuya... there's SO many streets and alleyways to go down... and soo much to buy!!!

what are they thinking with the names of these drinks?

heres a few random vending machine buys... if there's a red colour on the price of the drink its hot.. if its blue its cold...
i know there's alot of vending machine photos but crowie feels the need to get water everytime we pass one...

this guy freaks me out

ok heres just a random sign... i think the guy on its cute

ALOT of people here wear these face masks...

graffiti on the steps near Yoyogi Koen

underneath the steps

they have the biggest ads in the windows and on the sides of their buldings in Shibuya

some random as a lion

neckface was here... theres a bigger piece of his more towards Harajuku that we didn't get a photo of...

and lastly Shibuya crossing... crowie took this one... this crossing was intense...

day one in tokyo

2008-03-16T23:35:00.006+13:00

this photo could be interpreted a few ways

breakfast on the bullet train to tokyo

view from bullet train... mt fuji

WONDA in a can... i wonder why?

tomorrow were going to go shopping in HARAJUKU since today was so crap... we spent over an hour trying to get out of Shibuya train station... and the whole day travelling...

tokyo isn't half a busy as we thought it would be... heaps cleaner than we thought too... and you can buy beer EVERYWHERE and drink it ANYWHERE

OSAKA

2008-03-16T03:22:00.005+13:00

Ok... we finally got here... nothing is open... there's nothing to do unless we spend $170 on a taxi into the city of Osaka until we goto Tokyo tomorrow morning...

yes we had "themed" japanese plane food caddy

boring plane photo but as if you wouldn't take a photo out of your window

vending machine... we bought 2 pepsi max! exciting

i think in the daytime this is a mini theme park

o yeah... crowie has spoken the most japanese so far!!! he loves it!

tomorrow!

2008-03-14T11:17:00.001+13:00

We will be in OSAKA!!!!

intro

2008-02-20T02:04:00.000+13:00

ok this blog is mainly for my family so i can send them updates and photos while im in Japan...

hotmail doesnt work on my mac EVER so im just going to post and communicate on this till i get back!!!

caddy i know you will be the only one to make smart arse remarks on this...

anyways ill be in japan in 3 weeks! yay!