So within roughly a week of my last post my new Canon G10 broke with "Lense error" which is apparently not an uncommon thing for the line so please think strongly before purchasing this camera. Then my back up camera screen broke and then was taken home with mum... therefore my post is going to be imageless.... yes im sorry that was the best part!
I have a film getting developed atm so soon i will (hopefully) have some nice images of tokyo which i will post.
But since my last post (ages ago) much has happened. I have been working at a private english school for about a month now. The work wasnt so hard to get but i was lucky to have a reccomendation. I am on a wage of 2000￥ (about 25bucs) per hour and so far i have been getting roughly 6 lessons per week on thursday and saturdays. I am still living off savings so work isnt so important just yet but more work would not be too hard to get.
Furthermore I got offered a job building wheels at Gira Gira (track supermarkets store in Osaka). Perfect job for me i think. I will start that soon.
Recently my mum came over for a ten day trip. We spent 3 days hanging out at my current home -http://www.hirosguesthouse.com/ I certainly would recommend this place to anyone coming here to Osaka. Its tucked away in a neat little corner of Osaka only 5 mins from main station by train. Lots of nice Korean food stores.
After our relaxing time in Osaka where we did minimal Cultural exercises we trained to Kyoto where we spent 3 days. first the first night we stayed in a great traditional Ryukan. Tatamai rooms and futons. Then we moved onto a Hotel that rocked. We had a top floor room and heaps of space (especially for Japan) and for less than our previous night. (we got very lucky) here we went to a little market, Saw many temples and were lucky enough to See Geisha, an experience only few Japanese have seen let alone Geijin like me and mum.
There were some cool bike shops, cool clothes places, nice food, nice culture. I love Kyoto!
On our third day in kyoto we set out for Tokyo on the Shinkansen. just under 2 hours (i think). We arrived in tokyo late and went straight to out hotel. A seedy little place called New City Hotel. On arrival we discovered "New" was a flexible word as this hotel was 20 years old. We stayed there one night but left early the next morning for a new hotel which turned out more expensive but much nicer. Most of our Tokyo trip was your typical Tokyo experience. Big city sights, Shopping in Tall Superdooper department stores (not that we really bought anything). I tried to buy a pair of vans but was told they didnt accept my card so i gave up on that idea.
I found my way to Carnival (a track bike store) but one guy there wasnt very helpful so i left. And a few other great shops but shopping in Tokyo requires one (or all) of three things: Money, Patience, Money... really shopping in Japan isnt as expensive as its made out to be but it is really hard. So much stuff, so many people. That said im not really in a spending mode atm so maybe as a traveller it would be different. None the less Shibuya, Harajuku and Shinjuku are all awesome places to visit. We made it to a little area called Diakanyama which was really hip. I wanted more time in Tokyo because it is just sooo big.
We took a day trip to a small town called Kamakura. Heaps of temples and shrines and Big arse buddhas. We only made it to one of the buddhas but the other is defiantly in store for next time. I really enjoyed this place.
I think this is enough writing without images but so far it has been a great trip. I recomend Japan to anyone. Please if you do have interest in coming here send me a message and ill give you some tips for pre travel and recomend some places to visit. If you give me enough time ill even try find some deals on accomodation or at least get you in touch with the best places to stay. Work here isnt so hard to get either so if you are thinking about coming for an extended stay dont be affraid. Just come over and it will all work out (this is the philosophy i have been living by and luckily enough its worked out) but its stil lworth doing research.
Peace Out
2joes
