The purpose of this blog, my younger years, and my infatuation with Japan.

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Contemplating life; near Kamakura, Japan.

The 4+10 hour flight, experiences with flying first class, and my first glimpse of Japan.

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Saying goodbye to Mom and Dad in the Calgary airport. Goodbye YYC!

My first-ever first class seat! It was incredible. I had my own little "room/cubicle" complete with my own TV, and the seat could be laid down to make a completely horizontal bed. They asked me "Would you like anything to drink before takeoff Mr. Kilmer?". I'll leave it at that.

My first class seat! Thank you very much for the upgrade :D

I left the -7 timezone, flew past the International Date Line, and entered the +9 timezone. So I flew back in time and arrived the next day, 16 hours ahead, while only being in the air for 13 hours >.<. So, after 13ish hours in the air, I saw my first glimpse of Japan! I was so excited. I recorded the landing and took photos all the way down.

My first glimpse of Nippon

Here's some more photos of the overcast, still-winter, Japanese landscape during the descent. It was February after all.

Japan from the air; too bad it was so overcast.

I wasn't lying when I said ALL the way down.

Landing, getting really excited now.

I didn't really know what to feel at this point. It still hadn't hit me yet. I was lost in a strange daze...

And here's a video of the landing.

I was so tired. So very tired ---____--- and it was only 3:30pm local time. But I had arrived! I finally made it to Japan! So what did I do? I took photos with my iPhone 3GS >.< I'm still sad about that. Why didn't I use my better camera??

Affirmation!

Walking through the airport to customs was all a sleepy blur. They stapled a copy of my ninety-day visa in my passport, which I still find odd to this day.

Sorry for the horrible blurry photos, but they do document my first steps in Japan.

Wow, blurry photos. I promise they get better the next day, when I realized just how bad they were :D

My first experience with a fake food display. Remind me to stop taking photos with my iPhone 3GS >.<

That was a fake food display, which is incredibly helpful for gaijin(foreigner, also "gaikokujin"). If you can't read the menu, it's prefectly allowed to lead your server to the window and point at what you want to order. It also serves the purpose of making you hungry. Heck, I might as well just eat my way accross Japan. The food there was so incredibly great.

This photo is dedicated to Chris and Pearce. Yes, those are chips. And yes, I did buy them. And Miles ate them haha.

I found some anime-themed snacks in a combini(convenience store), although I had hoped for something better than One Piece, hehehe...

So my friend Miles and his girlfriend Tomoko came all the was from Nagoya to meet me at the airport. Such great friends, thank you guys. Miles was living in Japan for a year during this time, which was one of the reasons that I went when I did. He still had a couple of months left before he had to go back to Canada. We bought beer(which I later found out that you can buy pretty much anywhere) and food(more on combini food in a later post) and proceeded to try and find a hotel at the airport, as the train ride to Tokyo takes about 90 minutes. I also scheduled my appartment interview for the next day.

Tomoko, Miles, and I, waiting for the bus to take us to our hotel.

It was still winter when I arrived in Japan. The cherry blossoms of spring were about a month away. It was hard to believe though, because it was really cold! And raining. Which makes it feel even colder.

Some more blurry photos of the bus.

The three of us hopped on the bus that took us to the airport hotel. We ate, drank, and watched Japanese TV, which consisted of some epic game shows(please google some), dramas, and anime.

Biru(beer).

We sampled the whole beer selection the combini had. Some were sampled a few times. Needless to say, I had a very long day, and fell asleep at like 9pm. And thus, my first day in Japan has ended. Tomorrow is Tokyo!

The trip to Tokyo, my appartment interview, wandering Tokyo(Shibuya, Harajuku, and Tokyo), and an izakaya(japanese style pub).

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The warm caffine dispensing vending machine, and Tomoko's uggs.

Here are some random photos of the Narita Eki(train station). Note the vending machine, blue labels give you cold drinks while red labels give you hot drinks. I quickly became attached to these, desperate for caffination! My favorite brand is Wonda "Wonderful Coffee!".

The most incredible train system in the world.

The Nex(Narita EXpress) train is the quickest way from Narita to Tokyo, about 90 minutes. The train itself is very clean and comfortable, a common trend that I will later find out.

The Narita Express.

The train felt like it was going pretty fast, but I knew this was no shinkansen(bullet train). I was not prepared for my first ride on the shinkansen, but I'll talk about that later.

Incoming! And Miles being shifty...

The Japanese people are very courteous when they are sick in public places. They will often wear a surgical mask that covers their mouth and nose to help stop the spread of germs. Miles was pertty sick, so that's why he's wearing one. I got sick a few days later...

Tomoko and Miles, thanks again for meeting me in Narita!

It was nice to look out at the Japanese winter landscape, looking forward to the spring and the coming of the sakura(cherry blossoms).

I really like this photo of Tomoko.

There is quite a bit of rural settlements along the tracks, and a lot of farmland.

I took quite a few blurry train photos...

Soon the rural landscape turned to cityscape; we had entered the metropolis of Tokyo, and it was an unending jungle of concrete and buildings.

Endless buildings as we entered Tokyo.

We arrived at Tokyo eki and figured out our route to my apartment. Tokyo station is located on the JR Yamanote line, a circular train line that intersects the most popular stations, such as Tokyo, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Shinegawa, Ginza, Akihabara, and Ikebukuro. My apartment was a 2 minute walk from the Kanda station, which is sandwiched between Tokyo and Akihabara(the main shinkansen hub, and the otaku district, see what I did there?). If it weren't for my luggage, it would have just been a 10 minute walk from tokyo station.

Looking out at the rainy city from under the train tracks of Kanda station.

I was supposed to meet my contact for my apartment at Kanda station, but we were about 30 minutes early, so we wandered around the station to kill some time.

The area just outside of Kanda station.

Note the anime character on the building in the photo on the bottom left. And the Burger King -_- in the photo on the bottom right. I was standing just outside of a pachinko parlour(gambling with hundreds of metal ball bearings, kind of like pinball machines, hence the noise) and the noise was just incredible.

Here I am, posing like a gaijin. -_-

It's been way longer than 30 minutes, is she late? It can't be too difficult to find a white guy with long hair wandering around the station with lots of luggage.

Tomoko and I, west entrance of Kanda station.

In Japan at the time, text messaging used an email system instead of SMS that we're all used to. That meant that I could send and recieve texts using my email, so I purchased a roaming data plan for my iPhone (and also Google Maps!). I emailed my apartment contact, and confirmed that she was running late. We decided to wander around and look for a coffee shop to relax in and get out of the rain.

Looking south towards Kanda eki.

At the end of this street, there's a café which will end up becoming my favorite place to chill with a coffee and my journal at the end of the day.

Looking north, down the street from the café toward my apartment.

I love how scraggly the trees look in the winter months. Note the bicycle crossing lane.

Upstairs in the local starbucks.

During sakura season, starbucks have seasonal sakura flavoured drinks. These would become available shortly, and many were had during my stay.

View on Google Maps - My Tokyo Apartment.

Ahh, my humble Japanese abode: the "Sky Court"! Located in the heart of it all.

Sky Court Entrance complete with real foliage!

We met my apartment contact, Yoko Toyama, and went upstairs to the ninth floor. I completed all the necessary paperwork, paid for my first months rent, and that was that.

If you're interested, there's the floorplan, the website. My unit type is labelled as "JAPT. Kanda 4, Type C".

Main throughfare and bedroom/living room.

Here we can see the hallway, kitchen, entrance to the bathroom, my desk, and my bedroom.

Living room and kitchen.

These photos are from later in my journey, as you can see from my messy desk! I wasn't nearly as shutter-happy in the beginning of my trip, which is unfortunate.

The view from my balcony.

Most homes in Japan only come with an ultra-compact washer, so many people dry their clothes on lines on the balcony, which are usually built in. You can see mine and my building-neighbour's clotheslines above.

The alleyway behind my building

My building faced onto a busy street just north from the station, but my unit was on located on the back side of the building. My unit faced a cute little street with barely any traffic other than light foot traffic. Convenient, quiet, and central! I was very lucky in my apartment selection.

Looking up and down my little street.

I love walking along these little backstreets, it's so peaceful and oddly quiet. I made a habit of exploring areas like this, and found many wonderful surprises. Things some travellers might miss or not care about; it really is all about the little things.

Me and my apartment. This photo was actually taken on the final day of my trip, but I thought it fit here nicely.

So with my accommodations figured out, I got to relax for a minute and collect my thoughts. It didn't take long for me to get settled in, as I only had one suitcase and 26.6 sq. meters of apartment to fill. Anyways, Miles and Tomoko had some plans for the rest of the day, so we headed out.

Don't get your fingers caught in the door!

Japan is infamous for hilarious warning signs. My apartment has this sign on the elevator doors. Funny stuff :D

On the platform of Kanda station, JR Yamanote line.

We met Tomoko's friend Yuki at Kanda station, and decided to go explore Shibuya, an area that's known as one of the fashion centers of Japan, and home to one of the busiest train stations in Toyko, Shibuya Station.

View on Google Maps - Our route from Kanda Station to Shibuya.

It takes about 30 minutes to travel from Kanda to Shibuya on the JR Yamanote Line. Kanda is on the far east side of the circle, and Shibuya is on the far west side.

My first glimpse of Shibuya Crossing, one of the most iconic areas in Shibuya.

I think it was at this point, waiting to cross Shibuya Crossing, that it hit me. I was IN JAPAN!! A lifelong dream, number one on my bucket list, conquered yet just beginning. I was ecstatic. I can't quite describe how meaningful this moment was.

Rain doesn't stop any foot traffic here. It's just an excuse to break out your coolest umbrella!

Walking across the legendary crossing, heading towards the greater Shibuya area, full of anything and everything one could want.

Left: Looking northwest up a busy street. Right: A famous starbucks with a prime view of the crossing, and a multi-level HMV above it.

Just to the left of the starbucks is the main entrance to the pedestrian only streets. We walked walked down this way for a bit, in search of some excellent food.

Ahh, Taiyaki, the wonderful fish-shaped pastry. One of the characters in the game/anime Kanon loved these, so I was pretty happy to stumble upon some so quickly. We decided to get some after we ate.

Condomania!

Like I said, Shibuya has anything and everything one could possibly want. A store that specializes in sexual protective equipment? You bet.

Lunchtime!

We ate at a tiny little hole-in-the-wall place that serves everal kinds of Donburi(rice bowl dish topped with fish, meat, or vegetables). I had a salmon and tuna sashimi donburi with miso soup. These tiny restaurants served some of the best food I had in Japan.

A random electronics store, featuring keitai denwa(cell phone) accessories.

We wandered around for a good while through various streets, shops, department stores, and little parks. After a couple hours in Shibuya, we were off to another destination.

Heading back to the station through the crouded streets.

We were off to Harajuku, the center of Japanese youth culture and fashion. Just a single stop away on the JR Yamanote Line!

The ever-so-popular Takeshita Street in Harajuku.

When you exit the station, to your left is one of the largest parks in Tokyo, Yoyogi Park. To your right is the entrance to Takeshita Street. A tough choice. We went for Takeshita Street today, but I'll be back another day for Yoyogi Park!

View on Google Maps - From Harajuku station to the end of Takeshita Street.

After exploring the full length of Takeshita Street and some various side streets, we meandered over to Jingu Bashi, the pedestrian bridge between Harajuju station and the entrance to the Meiji Shrine. This place is the central meeting place for young Japanese fasion aficionados and associated subcultures. There wasn't much action today, but I'll be sure to come back here on a Sunday when it's really busy.

The main street that marks the end of Takeshita Street is a massive shopping district full of designer stores.

It was getting dark, and we were getting hungry again. We decided to head back to Tokyo station to get some dinner, as Yuki and Tomoko had to leave from there after dinner. So we jumped back on the train and retraced our steps back to Kanda. Tokyo station is only one stop south of Kanda, and is a central hub for JR trains, Tokyo Metro subway trains, busses, and the shinkansen.

Miles and Tomoko on the train.

We found an izakaya(Japanese style pub) just a short walk from the station.

Miles and I, drinking some good Sake.

Food at an izakaya is similar to ordering a bunch of appetizers. Dishes come in two to six piece portions that are easily shareable with a group of people. This is a great way to sample many different Japanese foods. Also, there are two special events that happen on certain nights. These are tabe-hōdai(all you can eat) and nomi-hōdai(all you can drink) in which you can buy one and get unlimited of the other, within a two or three hour time limit.

Left: Izakaya Confusion. Right: Takoyaki & Katsuobushi.

One of the dishes we ordered was Takoyaki which is battered and fried diced Taco(octopus). It usually comes garnished in Katsuobushi, which is thinly sliced and dried Bonito. The Bonito flakes will "dance" when garnished on top of hot foods.

This is Miles and Tomoko's friend, Yuki. Unfortunately, this blurry photo is the only one I have of her.

Ahh, full of good food and sake. Yuki had to go home and Tomoko had to go back to Nagoya, so we headed back to Tokyo station to send them off. Miles was staying at my apartment for a couple nights. A big thank you to Tomoko for coming all the way from Nagoya. :D I know that's an expensive trip.

Cute advertisements for Suumo(a real estate company).

Hopped on the train for the one station trip to Kanda. On the way back to my apartment, Miles and I bought some beer and snacks at the local combini(there's a Sunkus across the street and a FamilyMart at the end of my block). We proceeded to drink at my apartment while watching some odd Japanese TV.

Akihabara, a maid café, and Hub.

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Looking back now, the complete sentence should have read: マイルズはばかです "Mairuzu wa baka desu" or "Miles is an idiot."

Top: マイルズ "Mairuzu". Bottom: ばか "Baka". Literally "Miles is an idiot!".

Miles and I, venturing forth from my apartment into the bright japanese outside.

We had some big plans for today! It was time for me to step into the otaku mecca, Akihabara, which is commonly referred to as "Akiba". This wonderful place is full of everything related to anime, manga, video games, and their respective subcultures(such as cosplay, retrogaming, and doujinshi).

View on Google Maps - The walk from my apartment to Akihabara.

I chose my apartment due to the close proximity of several things:

1: Walking distance to a JR Yamanote train staion (Kanda Station).

2: Tokyo station for the shinkansen.

3: Akihabara! It's only a ten minute walk north to Akihabara, so Miles and I decided to just walk it, instead of another one-stop train ride.

Walking across the river that divides Kanda and Akihabara, I catch my first glimpse of Akihabara.

Shortly after World War II, Akihabara acquired the nickname "Akihabara Electric Town" for being a major shopping center for household electronics and the post-war black market. In the 1980s, when electronic goods saw a decline in popularity, Akiba started to shift focus to computers and hobbyist products. This brought a surge of computer nerds or "otaku", which further shifted the focus towards anime, manga, and video games. Thus the otaku cultural center was born. Some otaku consider Akihabara to be a sacred place.

Hehe, I wonder if that guy is eyeing me... Gaijins tend to draw lots of attention ^^;

I had seen many photos and videos of Akihabara on the internets, but actually walking through it was surreal. It really was the otaku mecca I had dreamed of. First things first, let's explore some shops related to anime and games!

In one of the first shops we visited, I found some figures from two of my favorite anime series: Air and Clannad! Off to a great start :3

One of the otaku related hobbies is the collecting of figures from various anime, manga, and video games. The term "figure" can refer to dolls, statues, and other figurines and collectables. I decided not to buy these yet, as I figured -_- I'd find better ones later. As it turns out, I should have bought the Misuzu figure from Air then and there, as I never did find another Air figure during my stay. Hindsight.

Lord of Vermilion, One of the popular CCG arcade games at the time. It was made by one of my favorite game developers, Square Enix.

Arcades are as popular as ever in Japan. Massive, multi-level "Game Centers", full to the brim with video games, mechanical games, and prize-based redemption and luck-based skill games; all revolving around the otaku pop culture.

Shining Force Cross, another popular arcade game which Miles and I played quite a few times. You get a card that lets you log in with your account, and continue where you left off.

Arcades (and most stores in Japan for that matter) are full of Gacha Gacha machines. Just pop in 100-300 yen, turn the crank, and out comes a little toy or figure.

Miles, and our newly acquired addiction to Shining Force Cross.

Miles and I spent several hours and several thousand yen in the arcade. Time and money well spent!

Man, that camera angle. This is here for the arcade soundscape more than anything else.

Having enough of the noisy arcade, we just walked around for a while, simply exploring and taking it all in.

A perfectly aligned row of bicycles. Note the complete lack of bike locks. Japan is a very safe environment, even in the big cities.

We found ourselves exploring an incredibly large department store, Yodobashi-Akiba.

The computer level in Yodobashi-Akiba. Laptops everywhere!

Yodobashi is a large chain of electronics department stores in Japan. The Yodobashi store in Akihabara, immediately next to JR Akihabara station, is eight stories tall (plus some basement levels). Each level is dedicated to a specific technology, such as the computer level, the TV and entertainment level, the audio and musical instruments level, and many others. This is currently the largest electronics store in Akihabara.

Left: Characters from One Piece. Right: R2 creeping Konata Izumi from Lucky☆Star

With anime and manga being ever-popular in Japan, it's no surprise that Yodobashi has anime DVDs, BluRays, and figures, especially since it's located in Akihabara.

Ghibli Section!

This was my first glimpse of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki merchandise. This was very exciting at the time, but little did I know just how much more was in store for me; from Ghibli stores and cafés across Japan, to the magical Ghibli Museum that awaited me at the end of my trip.

A DVD set of Air.

The anime section was almost as large as the movie section itself! This was during the transition period when anime was making it's way from DVD to Blu-ray, so even though I found many DVDs that I wanted, I was holding out for the latter. I didn't end up buying any though, as I require english subtitles. ;P

FFXIII and a Haruhi Suzumiya themed game!

Video games! I'm a huge Final Fantasy fan. I've beat them all, multiple times, completionist style. Final Fantasy XIII was slated for release in Canada during my stay in Japan. It had already been out for a while in Japan by this time, and I was very excited to see it in person! (I didn't know it would end up being a horrible game, and was very disappointed upon my return to Canada...)

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My walk from Kamakura to Enoshima Island.

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View on Google Maps - My walk from Kamakura to Enoshima Island.

My walk from Kamakura to Enoshima Island.