Things to do before i die:

#782 eat fugu (blowfish) in japan and not die

check.

I am stronger than tetrodotoxin! take that physiology! my sodium channels have the power of the dity workout behind them and cannot be closed by the likes of you. I laugh in the face of death. HAHAHAHAHA

Long ago quote of the day:

Me: “The best things ever are probably sex then wine.”
lady friend: “No, it is wine then sex.”
Me: “You must spend more money on wine than I am on sex.

-J

The Josh is SO home again. I love this country. its like culture crack.

does the “god damn i am bad ass dance”…okay so like i said the picture thing i haven’t been able to do but i will when i get back…however in the interim i have been in a tea ceremony just like the ancinet zen masters, have spent the night in a buddhist monastery on mount koya and yes, i have summited mount fuji and seen a sunrise from the ery top of the muntain and god dam it was beautiful and amazing but alsdo very very cold…however, it was definetly an experience i will never forget. Yes i did get pics, and i am going to show them to everryone when i get back coz i know none of all y’all could believe my skinyy pale self could climb m ount fuji, but i assure you i did and it rocked…only a few more days left in japan, and it will be nice to be home after a cvacation, buit i will definetly bee returning one day

Okay folkz sorry for the lack of updates recently, but i have been spending a ton of time in rural japan and simply do not get back before interent cafes and the like close…in fact i am getting a dirty look from the department store manager right now as i update, which i am poretty sure means …damn gaijin quit wasting the time and let actual customers over. Anyway i just got back from mount koya, where we spent the night in a buddhist monastery and were all made honorary monks for the evening and morning prayers, and also got to sleep in the tempkle and have meals there and everything…tomorrow we are going to hikle to the top of mount fuji to watch the sunrise and then back to tokyo for a few dayz until the tanabata festival…here comes the salezperson…see all y]all when i get back jaa mata

part three…in a hotel for part two and this one which let me have free access so you guys get mobbed so ui can post pics merely by giving up sleep and not cash

the lily pond in meiji jingu shrine in shibuya district in tokyo…whole park was a favorite spot of the meiji emperor

entrance to meiji jingu shrine…the gate behind me is called a torii

more nature pics…floating lilies in meijijingu

for the next few pics

in the iris garden

a painting of where we are done by a skilled japanese person…another one of our new friends

this is a well

another new friend showed us how to make boats out of leaves so they will float on water…yay

for the pic of the well

we were lucky enough to be able to see some of a shinto wedding ceremony while we were at meiji jingu here are the priests/monks

bonsai

the bride and groom…out of focus coz they in motion andf not sure if i allowed to take pics or not…

us with folkz in traditional japanese kimono…so glad we can speak enough japanese to have conversations longer than 5 minutes…thanks sugamoto sensei, thanks nogami sensei!

me with japanese goths…this is evidently the height of teen fashion according tou our guidebook…the japanese are weird

mike at a button diner…pay for your food press the button get a ticvket anf then take it to the counter where they serve it to you taskes about 5 min

this is what we eat for lunch on the shinkansen…called a bento box…this one cost about 7 dollars us, or 700yen…give or take some conversions…its yummier than it may look

andy and i on the shinkansen to kyoto giving the thumbs up…all these pics have been uploaded from kyoto and i will have a bunch more tomorrow while i still have acess but it is 2″00am in the morning here local time and we are getting up at arouind 7 again tomorrow morning so off i go for now

Moral of the story-I love my digital camera, but so hard to find time to upload stuff

ran out fo space time to start new entry same day

tokyo times square

no explanation necessary

andy and i at toshugo shrine in nikko

more of toshugo shrine

michelle and ikey in front of the five story pagoda at toshugo…one level for earth water fire wind and metal

the famous three wise monkeys on the sacred stable at toshugo in nikko

horsey in the sacred stable

front of actual toshugo shrine…one of the 12 colums in carved upside down purposely to avoid angering jealous spirits

behind micheel and mikey is a wedding hall…still used…the little white lighting bolts mean it is a sacred place and i actually had to get special permision in japanese to take this picture

o

the tomb wherein is enshrined the ashes of tokugawa iieyasu thrird if japans three unifiers and founder of the tokugawa shogunate

the sleeping cat painted by hidari the left handed on the way to iieyasus tomb

behind me is buried hideyoshi toyotomi on the left, second of japanes threee unifiers and tokugawa iiemitsu grandson of iieyasu who commisioned the temple we are standing in…not pictured to the right is minamoto yoritomo founder of the kamkura shougnate

nikko is said to be one of the most beautiful towns in all japan…places like this are why

another new friend we nmade. His name is taka, and he thought our japanese was good too…he is fishisng in the river for crickets…or bait to be more specific

you know who we are…at narabijizo…where the number of stone jizo’s appear to constantly change…jizo is the protector of weak and sick children in shinto and buddhism in japan

jizo is the bosatstu or protector of the sick and weak..he helps to escort miscarried or aborted babies into the next world…the red bibs placed on the jizo statues are done so by grieving mothers in hopes that theior child will have a better chance in the next life…sad, but interesting

still in nikko some nature pics

another new friend…how could i come to japan and not have sushi…this is the place to do it in the tsukiji fish market…the fish is cheaper than the states because they buy it roight outside their door ancd the narket starts at klike 5 ibn the morning here he brioke the fishes neack and then served it to someone

here he is again…this is the second iof three consecutive posts on the same day folkz…make sure you check em all

here is us in dai mall…the bandana thug crew…silly gaijin

mikey and michelle enjoying our favorite cheap breakfast of onigiri on ther JR rail line

another one of those fun sideways pics…andy and I on the steps of the same engaku ryuji temple in kamakura

and a pic of andy on the same temple steps

michelle and mikey in front of I don’t actually know what, but it looks cool and so I took a pic…still in enryakuji temp

a riksha driver…sorry if the captions are a little short, but as always pressed for time and some of this stuff should be obvious…still in kamakura

Kenshouji temple in kamakura, a zan temple of the rinzai sect

michelle by a taiko drum…same temple as above

me at zen ararai benten shrine performing ablutions tyo purify myself before entering…you wash your hands and mouth. This is the temple in the mountains of kamakura where if you wash your money it is supposed to double

part of the zen ararai benten shrine

school kids here love taking pics and will immediately pose for any kamera they see…they were just too cute for us not to take this pic

andy washing his moneyin the hopes of doubling it at zen ararai benten

me doing the sanme…yay money…yay shrine…curse slow internet connections that make mne spend a fortune

the ceiling of the benten shrine is decorate with 1000 paper cranes

the daibutsu or giant buddha of kamakura…

the inside of the daibutsu

we made a friend in yokosuka and spoke nothing byutjapanese to him…he told us we were skillful this made us happy

andy and I in the akihabara district aka electric town. after ww2 the army and navy sold off their surplus electric equipment here…students would buy the parts and make radios then return to akihabara tio sell them…ever since this is the place to buy electronics in japan

mike and I in tokyo times square

okay another sidewayspic…sorry…a giant stussy robot which we liked and took a @picture of in the honch

more blatant commercialism on my part…A japanese Mcdonalds near Mikes in yokosuka

this is ny bew favorite drink here…it tastes kinda like gatorade water…but Who wouldnt love a name liek pocari sweat? All the vending machines and menus are in pictures rather than wordz which is cool

michelle and I riding the train! we are learning how to use the rail system by ourselves, but it is still more fun to ask people for directions than read the subway map, especially since it is nmostly in kanji

me in front of enraykuji tenple in kamakura…the dwelling place of several of the hojo regents who ruled japan in the name of the shogun during the kamakura shougante from 1185-1300 somtehing…btw the random mispleings are because i am typing on a japnese keyboard so sorry…

us in front of an altar in the same shrine as above…the sign behind nme reads for a small donation of 1000 yen, or about 10 dollars, they will write your prayers on one of the wooden sticks behind mikey and burn it as an offering and your prayers will be answered

andy mikey michelle and mike in hachiman square kamakura…behind them…more temples and craft shops, done in the chinese style…you can tell becasue of the black and vermilion paint on the temples…japanese style is wooden with no paint

why are michelle and i so happy? every single one of those barrels behind us in hachiman square is filled with sake

on our way into another shrine whose name escapes me at the moment…we have been up since about 5*30 am and walked about 6 miles thus far and it is only 11am local time the wooden gate is called a tori and the white paper hanging from it signifies it is a holy place

eating in the huge mall above…playing the taiko video drumming game below

Okay, so I’m being touristy, but harry potter in Japanese? I had to take a picture…btw, this is still around yokosuka, the town where we are staying…but i promise you folksz will get some pics of rural japan and other sites too

Wow! Alright so here begins the documentary of my trip to japan, hopefulkly with included pictures.

June 16th..so here are a few pictures of us on the plane…i almost
freaked out when the guy next to me coughed, since you know the whole
sars things and all but it was all good

so above are the four of us…me, newman, michelle and mikey…yay on our way to japan

June 17th

crossing the international dateline was fun, but it means we lost a
day…arrived at the airport local time 6:00 pm…u.s. time somewhere
around midnight

Here is our first photos in Japan at Nariat airport! Traffic is
insanse-they drive on the wrong side of the road!!! our friend Mike
picked us up aty the airport and then it was a nice long drive back to
his apartment in Yokosuka, where the naval base is where he works

here is a japanese gas station…the nozzles hang from the ceiling!!! i am amused by weird things

space is a mjor concern in japanese society…I love the little car
elevators in Mike’s aprtment building…maybe UCLA should try this for
stack parking

michelle and Mike in Mike’s kitchen on the night of our
arrival…that tiny little white box you see behind them is the
dishwasher! told you space was at a premium

some more photos of where we are staying…we take of our shoes when
we enter and leave them in the little cubbyhole and wear slippers
around the house. The door to the left is the bedroom shared by Newman
and I

The above three photos are the panoramic view from Mike’s
balcony…I like the tile roofs with the funny little curves in the
japnese style…you will also notice there is alot more green and an
attempt to incorporate nature into urban life

okay i know the photo is sideways but i am kinda riushed for
time…this is the washer and dryer, tiny again in the bathroom no
less…right next door is the shower…did you know in Japan, you can
pay your utility bills at the 7-11? How cool is that?

here is the traditional bathtub…since everyone uses the same
bathtub, the goal is to use the shower first (right next to the
bathtub, although not picutred), then after you are clean, ypou climb
into the bath and have a nice long soak jacuzzi style…with no bubblez

these are the last two pictures which is the bedroom mike sleeps
in…on the floor is the tatami, a rice mat which is really
comfortable…the mattress is a futon on top of the tatami and there
are sliding screen paper doors…well only one minute left so you guys
know what i have done up through june 18th…more posts to come!

Moral of the story: Yay i am finally in Japan and going to take phoitos of everything