Emyn Muil... Or....

Last Monday, our hosts in Shibukawa took us by RV to Kusatsu, a large Onsen and very famous Onsen resort in Gunma Ken, On Tuesday, we went from Kusatsu to Yugama crater then to see Mt. Asama, a Volcano which erupted fairly spectacularly in 1973, and thereafter for a number of years spewed ash and stone. However Asama was obscured by clouds and was not viewable. However the observation area several miles from the mountain was, and to my mind, being a rabid fan of J.R.R. Tolkien looked to my mind to somewhat resemble Tolkien's description of the Emyn Muil. This picture has been cropped to remove a fence and a walkway, but I have a number of others, and it is surely prime evil looking, isn't it?

Another thought which had come to mind about this scene; Monty Python and The Holy Grail, I expect Michael Palin or Graham Chapman to pop up and say "We Are The Knights Who Say ..... NI!"

Oh well, what can I say except to quote Gary Larson (Far Side) it was late, and I was tired. ;-)

Vending Machines

According to Lonely Planet Guide Japan (I think it was last year's edition, but don't know for sure, sorry) at last count there are some 6,000,000 (yes that is 6 million) of these things in Japan (not necessarily this maker) and growing. They contain everything from Pop and water, coffee, cigarettes and juice, to electronics. I am told that in the ラーブホテル (Love Hotels) you can also get just about anything else you could want for your half hour or longer tryst, from condoms to naughty gadgets.....

It seems that you can't walk one city block in Tokyo without running into at least one of these. I have seen upwards of 7 in front of some places. Oddly enough (or maybe not) I never saw any in front of the western stores and restaurants, especially MacDonald's (Known by my family as Rotten Ronnie's) Wendy's or 7/11. They were certainly convenient for us, with the heat and humidity we experienced we were constantly getting bottled water out of these things.

By the way, these two (plus a third right next to them) were in our hotel lobby, the machine on the left dispenses different types of coffee.

またね

Canada

Well, we are back in Canada, I
would like to have stayed in
Japan....

I have fixed the problem with the
photo gallery, and will start
uploading photos again as soon
as my head gets somewhat more
wrapped around the time change,
BC is 16 hours behind Tokyo,
that plays havoc with the old
internal clock.

(It is 3:40 - AM - and I
am WIDE AWAKE - but then
my body thinks it's 7:41 - PM)

Now that I am back on a steady
internet connection again I
will also resume posting some
of what happened in the previous
two week period.

じゃね

New Local

This post will be breif as I am using
someone else's internet connection.

Yesterday (June 24th) we left Tokyo
and cought the Shinkansen (known
as the bullet train to you in the west)
for Takasaki, in Takasaki we were
picked up by my friend Hiromi.

The Shinkansen ride was a rush!

200+ Kilometers per hour!

I think it was somewhere up around
the 250 - 260 KMH level.

Smooth, little sense of acceleration
but the sense of speed was there.

More Later.

Subway

Today we went to Ebisu on the Hibiya Subway
line. It was about 9:00am and somewhat crowded
but not too bad, but it got fairly crowded, the
Tokyo subway system can be a claustrophobic's
worst nightmare come true....

We were not on during rush hour, however
so it was not crowded enough to drive
penny into kanipshins... ;-)

However, I am sure there must have been
at a minimum 75 people on that railcar.

Video - yes folks this is for - real!

Tokyo Station @ Rush Hour:










(Image from Wikimedia Commons)

Lotsa Fun!

In Ebisu we went to a small but fairly decently
stocked (with English Language books)
book store.

I got one of Tolkien's books.
Penny bought a couple, a little pricey
for a used book store, but this is
Tokyo...

またね

Potato Chips (^-^)

So today I saw a bag of potato
chips on the local 7/11 (!) shelf
which looked intriguing,
colourful, if I had looked the
label a little closer I would have
seen what they were,
umeboshi flavoured chips....

Umeboshi is a pickled plum.


But really, is that any stranger
than some of the concoctions
on North American shelves?

Such as:
How about sour cream & Bacon.
Jalapeno pepper.
Pepper flavour....

You get the idea. By the way,
they were actually very good.

じゃね

Ooops

Something seems to have happened back
home, my server has dropped off the
net, so my gallery won't be available
for a few days.

Oh well, you will get to see the photos
eventually. :-(

Yesterday was a great day, we went
to Kamakura, via Yokohama, and
again met up with our friend Yoshiko.

We went on a tour of Kamakura
with her and took about 300
photos. Lots of temples and
shrines. Busy trains, busy streets
and fantastic shopping areas.

We ate a wonderful lunch,
Sukiyaki, the cast iron pots
were still sizzling when they
were brought to the table.

And it was delicious! I have
eaten NO WESTERN FOOD
at all since we left the hotel
in Narita.....

I don't wanna come home, believe
me....

More