Friends and Family coming to Japan

My Brother and Sister and a few other friends are coming to Japan tomorrow. So I have be planning a trip for them and will give me a little excuse to write a little plan to tour Japan or atlest as much as you can in a week.

Tomorrow they arrive so they will be tired however, I will take them to Yokohama once they have had dropped there bags around my house no uses wasting time with you are only around for a week.

We will go and see Chu ku gai or ChinaTown.
and go grap something to eat taking pics and maybe a trip up to motomachi and the old embassy's.

An early night and off to mount fuji the next day, you can get the bus there from shibuya station for around 1500 to 2000 yen and takes 1hr and 30mins this is far the best way to get to Fuji, The train is more expensive and takes longer.

I think we will spend the whole day there taking pictures and having a walk up it and to rest the legs get in an onsen(Spa).

Tuesday go and see Harajuku, Shinjuku and Tokyo, This is easy to do you can get on the Yamanote like this is the circle line that goes around all of the main parts of Tky get off go see a palace and get back on and see the next.
Harajuku is famous for gothlo or gothic lalitas these girls like to dress like dolls. You also see alot of cosplay in this trendy part of town.

Alot of western food here if you want to eat that. Pizza Express is very good.

Disney is a must wednesday will be Disney day. It looks and feels the Same as the one is the US, but the Japanese love to dressup and take part. Lots of costume caldded girls esp if you go on Halloween.

Thursday will be a rest day and maybe go to other parts of yokohama maybe the noodle museum and the football ground.

Friday we will take a day trip to Kyoto, get up around 4:30am get the first train down to kyoto about 2 and a half hours later were in Kyoto take the train to Nara and see todaiji temple this is famous for the budduh, next we will get the train back to kyoto and see the golden temple and toji and then go to see the Geisha in Gion. Before having a spot of dinner and then the train back to TKY.

Saturday shopping and suday they fly home rest for ted before going back to work. lol

Back from Goldenweek and back to work in Roppongi

Japan and Working, it really sucks sometimes to work in Japan, Japan seems to do everything to keep the normal man down. For example, its really humid now and the summer or rainny season is almost here. However, the train company refuse to turn on the aircon as its not summer. Japan has really strange rules. Another one the outside swimming pools are not open as its not summer never mind it was 33c the other day. In my native England it can be 20c out side and everyone will be flocking to the beach or the outside pools in Tooting and Brixton.

I have to travel about 1hr to work everyday in extream heat I almost passed out the other day as the train fans or aircon was not on. Its funny Japan is the only country where you go to a hotel and it says keep the aircon at 27c in the summer. My god I sweat.

Well enough of my ranting about the bad things in Japan. On a good note my brother will come over from England in 2 weeks time so more planning and travel I can write about.

I think this time he comes over We will do the districts of Tokyo that we did not get to see. I will also take him to see Mount Fuji and Maybe we will take a trip to Osaka, Nara and Kyoto. I will put some information up on what to do in these places nearer the time also on how to get there.

にほんブログ村

Travel in Akita a number of times.

Getting to Akita:
Akita is quite a ride from Tokyo and the best way to get there is either via a plane from Hanada Airport takes around 1hr or via the Shinkansen which takes around 4 hrs you can get this from either Tokyo station or Ueno station. Cost around 26,000 yen the same for the flight.
If you have time then for around 10,000 yen you can get a week rail pass this is a nice way to see the country, However, you can only use Local trains so the fastest train you can use is the limited express.

Things to do in Akita:

Yoshinobu Satake`s Castle
Oga
Libabry
Alive Building
Senshu Koen
chokaisan

Food to try
Rice Akita is very famous for rice
kiritanmpo

My Travels:
While I was travelling in Akita over golden week and a few other times of coming to Akita, I went with my wife and kids to the park, we also took a trip to Oga, Oga is very famous for the namaagaie a monster pictured above This monster comes out at night if the children don't sleep and kidnaps them or something its old Japanese folk law and every town has something smilier. I wrote about this monster earlier in my blogs.

I would spend a few days in Akita city before going to see some of the other attractions of Akita, there are a number of sites to see here in the town, Senshu Koen, is one of them and you can see some of this in the pictures in this blog. Senshu Koen is also famous has it has one of the famous budduh`s there are a number of these spread out around Japan and the most famous is in Nara in Todaiji temple.

There are some off the famous Akita festival this happens in the summer and in the festival they carry lanterns with one arm this depicts the rice. The park we went to also houses one of the most famous buddhus in Japan there are a number of these budduhs the most famous being in Todaiji temple Nara Japan.

Times to come to Akita, Akita is very cold in the winter so I would probably avoid this time unless you love skiing. There are a few mountain areas and they are also famous for some of the best onsen`s in Japan(spa pools) One of the spa`s we like to go to is called the boon its more of a kids swimming pool with a outside onsen in the mountains just out side of the city. They have a free bus that comes to pick you up in the town which is really good.

I would go to Akita around May to Aug, Aug is a very nice time to come as they have a festival for the rice, its really nice to see the men are trained to carry lanterns with one hand not sure how they do it these things are about 40kgs.

The alive building the new home of NHK Akita, This is a very nice building it has a science museum in it and also has a really nice view of Akita from the 14th floor. I would recommend a trip up there and the restaurant is nice all you can eat buffett for about 980 yen you can`t go wrong.

Yoshinobu`s castle is a must see I dont have any pictures at this time but I will put some up later.

It is very famous and he was a famous daimo(lord

of the Edo period.

The Dutch came to Akita during this period and there is a form of art called Akita Ranga this is a must see.

Getting to Oga, The best way is to get the train from Akita Station, Oga has a number of nice places to see

and you must try the ice cream from the oba chans the old women in Japan. Its about 200 yen but well worth

it its more like homemade ice cream. Very nice.

Oba also has a very nice hill or mount that you can go up this has very nice views of the Akita Prefecture.

There is also a museum to the travel of the north pole this was quite cool I have been there before in my blog there are a number of pictures of the times I have been to Akita. I have added some pictures of earlier visits

to Akita, It has a few nice things for the kids and you can take a simulation trip in a ice car and also see some of the ships and things they used in there explorations of the north pole. There are also a number of Arctic stamps from different countries.

chokaisan or Akita Fuji is the tallest mount in Akita, and I think in northern Japan, This is a very nice trip around some of Akita`s famous countryside, I would really recommend it, you can get either the bus or the train there I would recommend a guided trip. They have a cable car for the lazy to get up the mountain and you can walk down.

Food

Everywhere in Japan says I have the best this and the best that. Akita is very famous for rice and a stew called kiritanmpo. Akita is so famous for rice that the shinkansen to Akita is called Komachi which means rice.

Girls

Akita is also famous for its beautiful girls called akita bidjin or beauty`s they are a must see I would recommed Akita girls :)

We did nothing today a little lazy

We did however, go for a drive around Akita, It looked real nice we also went to see my other halfs auntie and uncle. I took a few videos of Kai and Eita and the family, I will share with you.

Tomorrow I will defiently go on a trip and take some pictures we will have a little guided tour of Akita for the folk that would like a little guide from a Gaijin living here.

first day in Akita:

Akita Japan, I came down today a few days after my wife the reason for this I could not take holiday. Today for me is the first day of golden week. I will enjoy this break.My day started with waking up at 4am, I had to catch the plane at 7:45 and thought there will be allot of people leaving Tokyo today. I could have got the Shinkansen but Akita is about 5hrs plus from where we live in Yokohama.

Well Akita looked fantastic when I flow in it still had snow on the mountains, I thought here we go northen Japan its going to be freezing but it was very nice today. My son Kai was there to great me off the plane how I missed his cheeky smile.

We did not do too much today after we got back and dropped my bags off we went for a trip to yaki ni ku, This is Japanese BBQ. I love the stuff. However, it was few hot to be eating BBQ inside with no Aircon on. After that we took Kai to the park, It was very funny I had so many people looking at me. I guess there are not many of us gaijins in Akita, I am a novelty lol.

It was too funny taking Kai on the slide he loves it and laughs we also took him in the sand pit where I am now still digging the sand out of my pants.

Well blog more tomorrow We will do some travel tomorrow maybe to Akita Fuji, I will write more then and add some pictures.

nite.