Heh... I know I should be working on getting through my holiday posts...

... but I've been toying with tattoo ideas again and decided to play with GIMP to try and get them out of my brain...

This one came out pretty cool with this filter...

Aomori Prefecture with a Triforce marking Shichinohe

April Adventures Across Japan Phase 3: Profit!

Aomori Day 7: Towada revisited


The last day of my holidays, and while it was tempting to make another jammie day out of it, we decided to go back to Towada and check out Art Station Towada. It's a pretty funky set up with some really neat pieces. Again, you can't take pictures, but they had post card prints for sale, so I grabbed a bunch.

The audio-video displays, obviously could not be captured in such a way, but it was neat to visit. I shall have to keep an eye on the website and check it out again once they have some new stuff to see.

I made Japanese curry for dinner, my first try. I love that stuff so much, I wish I could eat it all the time. Omnomnomnom.

A nice end to a great set of holiday. Yeah. :)

April Adventures Across Japan Phase 3: Profit!

Aomori Day 6

Two words:

Doctor Who.

April Adventures Across Japan Phase 3: Profit!

Aomori Day 5: Shichinohe & Towada

Time to explore more of my new home... and teach Ashley how to walk to the Shinkansen station because I would be at work when she had to leave. We lucked out and got another nice day and made our way down to the station. Sadly, there were no displays at that time (when I'd been there a week earlier, there had been a plethora of mobiles and some kimonos on display. I think there were for Girls' Day).

April Adventures Across Japan Phase 3: Profit!

Aomori Day 4: Hachinohe-Away!



Canada is big.

Very, very, big.

Google maps will tell you that it takes 28 hours to drive from Winnipeg to Vancouver. To drive out East, Winnipeg to Sydney Nova Scotia, Google Maps says 40 hours.The Trans-Canada Highway is over 3500 km long (closer to 3700 clicks).

Big.

April Adventures Across Japan Phase 3: Profit!

Aomori Day 3: Hirosaki Hijinx!

'another early morning, but that meant we had lots of time to explore Hirosaki. I really love this city, although I have yet to drive around in it. Perhaps that's why I still love it. Haha. I've been driven around it, but I always take the train out here when I visit. Saves me having to find parking and navigate the helluv narrow streets and lanes that make it up. Some of my favorite JETs live out here, and it's great to hang out with them... but they were all at work, so we were left to our own devices.

April Adventures Across Japan Phase 3: Profit!

Aomori day 2: Fukaura

I've wanted to go to the west coast of Aomori ever since I saw that there are seaside onsens (hot springs) that you can watch the sunset from. I also wanted to take the train across the ken so I can watch the sites rather than driving through it and having to pay attention to the road. The Aoimori train line runs right along the coast of Aomori bay (the #4 National Road runs along it, too. Beautiful, again, but... eyes on the road!), and the JR Gono line runs along the western coast next to the sea of Japan.

I decided that I needed to get out there at least once while I live here.

April Adventures Across Japan Phase 3: Profit!

Aomori Day 1: Shichinohe Sights

There's a town right behind me, I promise.

April Adventures Across Japan Phase 2: Train Tracks to The North

Another early morning and we made out way to Sendai station and completed our trek to Aomori via rail. It was a lot more scenic after Sendai, with the mountains making appearances and more rivers near the tracks. I think I belong up north, as it really felt like I was going home. Calming and peaceful.

April Adventures Across Japan Phase 2: Train Tracks to The North

The JR pass is a glorious things for visitors to Japan. Any time you ride on the JR line, albeit regular train or bullet train, you are covered. It is not available for residents of Japan... even temporary ones such as myself. So I picked up a smaller version of it, which would cover 5 days worth of rides on JR lines, but not the shinkansen, only regular trains. So, we slow train-ed it up north, and since we couldn't make it all the way up to Aomori in one day this way, we stopped in Sendai for the night.

April Adventures Across Japan Phase 1 Continued

Day 5, Ueno Zoo

We took it easy, and got up at our own pace. I relaxed in the lounge-y area of the capsule inn and we set out to Ueno Park, and more specifically, the Zoo. It was a lovely day for it and we seem to have grown accustomed to long days of walking around. I found some of the... exhibits... to be lacking in space, while others seemed to be just fine... but I don't know much about how much room certain creatures need and since the park is fairly limited on it's ability to expand the area it takes up, I suppose they're doing the best with what they have. Still, cool creatures and a lovely day outside enjoying some spring weather before we head back up north.

April Adventures Across Japan; Phase 1 in Tokyo: Disneyland.

Day 5: Tokyo Disneyland

Twas an early morning that we got a move on, breaking our fast (guess whose been reading a Song of Ice and Fire...) with eggs and apples purchased at the near by grocery store. Bidding a fond farewell to Asakusa, we rode subway and trains to Komagome to check into our new accommodations  I figgered that Ashley should try out the capsule-life, and so off we went to Capsule Inn Komagome (which is actually called Rosuko Sauna, thankfully I found a review the night before and so we didn't get lost). As it turns out, we weren't allowed to actually check into the Inn until we were going to stay for the night, so we dropped our luggage off in a locker and were on our way. We picked up a mixed bag of baked goods from a bakery we passed on our way back to the Komagome JR to help keep down the day's cost (one thing my co-workers warned me about was that everything at TD is expensive, so we took a few previsions).

April Adventures Across Japan; Phase 1 in Tokyo: Fish, Animation and Japanese Pancakes.

Tokyo, Day 4.

Sadly, the day started off pretty rainy and blah... I went out for a walk when I woke up in the hopes that it would clear up... Ah well. While preparing for this trip, I had created a fairly easy going itinerary, mostly to make sure that I had accomodations all figured out (which was good because I almost forgot to book myself a place to stay April 1st haha), and bought some tickets ahead of time for a couple of attractions that we wanted to partake in. The first of such things was the Ghibli museum. However, it being Ashely's first day in Japan and the time difference being so great from Canada, that wasn't until the afternoon. So I started my day with a leisurely breakfast at the hostel and went out to grab a coffee and give Ashley time to wake up and stuff.

April Adventures Across Japan; Phase 1 in Tokyo: Ashley's Arrival

Tokyo Day 3

Super-secret entryway to the Hostel

It was a cloudy day in Tokyo, so I spent the morning exploring the Asakusa subway station and the shops in the Ekimise. You can get a view of the Tokyo Skytree from there... when it's not cloudy and raining... so I didn't get a very good look. Haha.

April Adventures Across Japan; Phase 1 in Tokyo: Asakusa, LPs and Beer!

Tokyo Day 2

Cozy capsule life

April Adventures Across Japan; Phase 1 in Tokyo: Punkspring, Breakfast & a giant spider!

The Departure Point.