Tokyo visit, Yotsuya, Asakusa, and Shinjuku at night

Last week me and my girlfriend Yuuki spent time in Tokyo enjoying the nice weather, shopping, and reminiscing about the past. First we headed to Yotsuya and Akasaka, to see Sophia University where I had studied back in 2001 and 2002. I had wanted to go visit my old neighborhood of Yotsuya for a while to take some pictures. I had been unable to take many pictures during my time there in 2001 and 2002 thanks to my camera breaking. But I also had wanted to visit some old areas around there that I hadn't been to in a long while.

Yotsuya is pretty much the same as it was 7 years ago, however Sophia is no where close to looking the same as it had. The dorm I lived in has been gone for years, replaced with an empty space waiting to be developed. The new building that was just starting to be built as I left, is not only completed but joined by other new buildings. In many ways, the Sophia I knew is gone forever. And yet the memories I had then came flooding back as I walked the roads around the university, and on the way to Akasaka. It was a hard trip for me emotionally, but I kept it together. In the end it was fun to see the old places again. I'll post more pictures of it soon. In a way while the Sophia I remember is no longer there, I'm OK with that, as its an experience that only could exist for a short time I think. And anyway the memories will always be close to my heart where they are most needed.

After that me and Yuuki spent some time in Akasaka, and then shopping in the Ginza. We then headed to Asakusa to see Sensoji Temple and to shop for some Christmas gifts. Asakusa is a touristy place in many ways, lots of old gift shops selling toys and gifts foreigners and others would love to take home. Its a nice place of town, but kind of crowded. The reason people come there is because of an important building. The Buddhist temple there, Sensoji Temple, is very stunning and a great place to visit.

As you can see the place was very busy. This being a Sunday, and a beautiful day at that, it was packed with many people from all over Japan as well as many foreigners. Many came to pray, others just to view an important and famous building, and others came to shop the many old style shops along the road to the temple. It had a feel of classical Japan to it.

Unfortunately the main building of the temple was under renovation. While we could inside we couldn't see its exterior of course. At least they were able to put up a very nice banner to cover it with. I bought many gifts for my family for Christmas in Asakusa. It was quite funny traveling there, almost 8 years to the day that I had gone before to get gifts for my family the first time I went there. I felt a sense of remembrance very similar to when I was in Yotsuya earlier in the day.

At this point we headed to Akihabara for some quick video game and anime shopping, as well as a nice stop into a Burger King store. Funny story about that, someone brought their pet rabbits to the resturant and left them outside while they ate inside. Every customer who left was quite surprised at the site. We then headed to Shinjuku to go look for books in a book store I love to go to many times when I lived there. When we got there we found a wonderful Christmas decoration exhibit that had gone up in the last few weeks. It was a wonderful site seeing all the trees lit up nicely.

Above is a picture of Yuuki, my girlfriend sitting next to one of the trees lit up. We both had a fantastic time. Its always great to go back to Tokyo for a visit. While I love Yamanashi so much and am so glad I live here, I still consider Tokyo to be my Japanese hometown in many ways. So its really a pleasure to see everything again. In the next few days I'll post a few more pics of my visit.

Medical Problems Galore

The last month and a half has been a frustrating time for me health wise. Its times like this that I am very thankful for the insurance plan I have with the government. Many foreigners complain about it, but its really been a big help for me the past year, and especially this month. The day after my birthday I unfortunately had a small but nasty little bicycle accident. To make a long story short, I was trying to bike on the sidewalks here, but they tend to disappear out of no where and end in big cement blocks. Since it was at night and my light on my bike was not working well, I couldn't see this at all and I hit it. I ended up falling off the bike and landing on the cement block wall. My hand had a large deep cut in it and my leg had a gigantic bump on it and it was impossible to walk.

Thankfully I was able to get to the hospital thanks to the help of my girlfriend. But we had a hard time finding one that would accept me. Since it wasn't a major emergency I had to go to a smaller one. Thankfully once we got there we found out nothing was broken and they taped up my hand real well. I couldn't walk well for days and my hand has a nice scar now. Also I had to dig deep into my savings, something I just started doing, and buy a new bike. At the request of my friends and coworkers, I bought an expensive road bike. This as they suggested, would be better for me as it would be stronger. However its a bit inconvenient as it doesn't have a kickstand, lock, or a basket. I still have my old bike but its not the best shape so I rarely use it.

So after that I spent time healing and I thought things would get better, I ended up catching a very nasty cold. Unlike the one I got this summer, this one ended up including a very high fever that lasted a week. The worst part about it was that it was making my asthma very bad as well. At the same time the swine flu had hit my school and many of my students had caught the virus. Because of this I had to make sure about my condition. I went to the doctor and after taking a test I was told I didn't have the virus, and that it was just a nasty cold. I have to say if that was a cold, I'm afraid of what the swine flu would be like for me as that cold was terrible.

In between those two events, mostly I have been trying to relax and prepare for the upcoming end of the year break. I did celebrate Halloween this year and made a costume for the first time in a long time. I went as the character "Tomodachi" from the manga "20th Century Boys." I will post a picture of the costume soon. I also have been going out to eat a lot at some nice restaurants with my girlfriend Yuuki. Those trips are always a lot of fun.

With December just a few days a way I really am starting to get excited for my big vacation. I'm hoping to go do a lot this year, from parties, to sight seeing, to spending time with Yuuki, and some relaxation at home with Final Fantasy XIII. It will be a ton of fun. Also I have plans for a visit to Tokyo in a week. And sometime soon I'm going to go to Tokyo Disneyland and Matsumoto. It will be a blast!

31 and one last look at my old Sophia website

Today was my 31st birthday, and without a doubt it was the best I've experienced. I had been waiting for weeks for it and today my waiting was well rewarded. I spent the day with my girlfriend who helped make the day very special. Not only did she get me a wonderful strawberry and chocolate cake, but a brand new watch. I've been needing one for a very long time. I also got some new clothes for the winter, which is something I've really needed. The day then ended with a special dinner. I was taken to a very nice restaurant, izakaya style, on the top floor of one of the nice restaurants in Kofu. We were given a nice window view of the city at night from 13 floors up. We had a wonderful dinner, having shabu shabu beef, some sashimi, and noodles. I even was given flowers and a special picture for my birthday as part of the meal.

It really was a great day for me. The last couple of years in Yamanashi my birthday had been a disappointing day, especially two years ago with the fall of NOVA just days away from occurring. To finally have such a special day as today with such a special person, made me very very happy.

One last thing for today. In just one week, my old website, which has been online for 13 years now, will go offline thanks to Geocities being closed. My pictures and words of my time at Sophia university in Tokyo will then be taken offline. I hope to have them back online as soon as I can, but until then it would be good to have one last look at my old website.

http://www.geocities.com/bebopcowboy

Picture time

Today has been a bad day. I cut my face real bad this afternoon. I'm OK now but at the time I thought I would need stitches. Thankfully there was no need. But enough of my problems, time for some pictures! Here are a few from some of my recent trips:

First a picture of me near the unique Fuji TV building in Odaiba.

This picture is from the ferris wheel in Odaiba. If you look real closely to the left, you can see the Gundam statue.

Another picture of the Fuji TV building from he opposite side.

Here is a picture of the rainbow bridge connecting Odaiba to the rest of Tokyo. In the background is Tokyo Tower.

One of the main lakes surrounding Mt. Fuji. This is from my camping trip.

This picture is of Mt. Fuji covered in clouds. Two years in a row this has happened for the camping trip.

A nice small waterfall from the campgrounds.

A smiling sunflower from a place near my home.

Picture taken from Ryuo station. This is the small town of Kai City, where I live. Nice view of Mt. Fuji and many other mountains.

I will have more pictures to post later tonight.

Back to writing after a much needed rest

Well its been two months since I last posted something on the blog. To be honest I needed time away as life has been pretty busy as of late. Whether its the continued frustration of work, to lots of fun at home, I just haven't had the time to write as much. Most of the last two months have been just very busy. I had to go to camp for a few days, long nights at work, and weekends where my schedule was packed. But at least I haven't gotten too sick yet.

For fun I've done many things. I went to a place called Kiyosato which has a nice scenic view to it. Lots of wonderful mountain views. I will try to post some pictures soon. I also went to Tokyo for some shopping a few times, and of course camp near Mt. Fuji. Sadly the days we went there was a torrential rainstorm which caused problems for everyone.

In August there was a one week vacation for the Japanese holiday of Obon. During that week I spent the majority of it with my girlfriend, having fun and relaxing. I also ended up playing more Dragon Quest IX. I finally beat the main quest last night, but I still have hours upon hours of post main game fun to play.

September has been a quiet month. Its good for me though as I want to relax more, and save some money for once. Thankfully I have lots of things to keep me busy. My backlog of games, dvds, manga, books, and so on can keep me busy for probably a year. Hopefully I can get through a lot of them the next few months.

I am already looking forward to next month. My birthday will be then and it looks like it will be a very special one this year. I can't wait!

Videos of the Gundam in Odaiba

Here are some videos I took of the Gundam in Odaiba. If you click on them you can watch them in HD.

This first one shows some of the special effects that went on during a short performance. You can see steam coming from its engines and its head move.

Here you can get an idea how big it is compared to those viewing it, as well as to see a little bit of how big the crowd was. It was very crowded.

New Camera, Dragon Quest IX, Tokyo, and Gundam

Last week was a very eventful week for me. Being that I had payday this week, it was time for me to enjoy life and have fun. My first plan was to finally buy a new camera. I actually haven't had a real camera in a very long time. A few months back I chose a digital camera that I liked, the Panasonic Lumix Fx40. Its a nice, small camera, that has a lot of features. One of my favorites is being able to record HD videos. So on Friday I picked one up at the store. At the same time I was finally able to pick up the DS game "Infinite Space," which I had been unable to get a week ago due to it selling out.

The next day however an even bigger game was going on sale, Dragon Quest IX. Dragon Quest is one of the biggest video game series in all of Japan, and whenever one goes on sale its an event. Or at least its supposed to be. This time with so many stores having pre orders, including just about every connivence store in the country, there were no lines. But when I went to buy it at lunch on that Saturday at the local 7/11 run supermarket, there were loads of people buying it. I have been playing it over the weekend and its really a lot of fun, just like all Dragon Quest games.

Then on Sunday me and my girlfriend headed to Tokyo for some more sightseeing and shopping. One of the main reasons for going this time was to head to Odaiba, a island in Tokyo bay famous for being the location of the Fuji TV building. But it also has many shops and a huge convenction center. But now it is also the home, for the next two months, of an unique exhibit. A full scale replica of the original Gundam giant robot. This 1/1 scale momenument has been the talk of everyone in Japan, and has even made the news outside Japan as well. It officially opened to the public on Saturday, so I was seeing it on its 2nd official day. We had to walk quite a far way to get to the exhibit. It was pretty funny as we got closer and could see the head peaking through the top of the parks' trees.

When we reached the exhibit, there were a ton of people there, all of course taking pictures of the giant robot. It really was pretty huge. When we got there a nice show had begun, where the Gundam started to move its head, and steam started to come from its thrusters and engines. Everyone in the crowd went "owwwwww" at the site. What was surprising was that we were allowed to go up to the Gundam, walk under it, and even touch it. It was an awesome sight!

And surrounding it was of course many temporary shops selling so many things. As well as a nice view of Tokyo Bay, and the Rainbow bridge. Both me and my girlfriend had a great time. We then headed to the ferris wheel on the island. This was the first time I had ever ridden a ferris wheel in my life. It was quite nice and gave a nice view of the bay. You could even see the Gundam from the wheel, even at its far distance. We then went shopping for clothes in Odaiba and Shinjuku, and a little shopping in Akihabara, and then came home. Sadly I seem to have caught a cold in Tokyo as I'm not feeling well now. Hopefully it goes away soon.

In the end, it was a great weekend! I bought a lot of things including some Xbox games from America (I can't wait to get through Ghostbusters!), Dragon Quest, the Gundam, lots of great time with my girlfriend, and no stress. And best of all. Lots of pictures. I'll post a lot of them in the coming days!