Philosopher’s path, originally uploaded by graney.

The gateway of the Alps.

I have changed my plans in the last 12 hours so many times I am a little confused as to what I am doing or where I am.

But now I have a little clarity.

I am off to Matsumoto for 2 nights in a hotel nestling in the shadow of a castle. I phoned up and booked.. even though I now find out I could have used the intarwubs to book as well. But it was a good chance to practice my embarrassing Japanese.
[I tend to pronounce all the syllables with equal emphasis. Which made the woman on the other end audibly smile. (could hear it in her voice ) For instance; ashita is actually pronounced "ashta" the "i" is unvoiced. But not when I pronounce it.]

There is also supposed to be lovely local train into the mountains and I will do that on Tuesday morning to see what it is like.

All this was decided very last minute.
I decided to go to Matsumoto because Fuji Five lakes would have been hard to get to/from and put in my planned schedule. Plus it closes on the day I arrive. And Also, the only places I could find with places were for backpackers, which is not where I would like to be.

So I get back to Tokyo, Shibuya, on the 2nd.

However, I plan to spend a night in Hakone on the 8th.
Still need to book the place for that. [want a ryokan! preferably one with a hot spring ]

Shinkansen to Kyoto, originally uploaded by graney.

Took the Shinkansen to Kyoto.
And this time I DID see Fuji!

When I got to the hotel they had given me a free upgrade.
Which is astounding as I got the cheapest room they had.

Instead of looking into the interior of Kyoto station I have a room that looks out across the southern half, the less interesting half, of the city.

It is partly a shame as the interior of Kyoto station is an architectural masterpiece and I would also have had mischievous fun pretending that the commuters were the unwilling pawns of my evil james-bond-esque-villian type machinations. *sigh*
I guess the staff saw all of that intent in my eyes.

Shibuya is an amazing place and I will return in about a week.
But this is one of the reasons.

It is so dynamic and youth cultured.

There are some amazing bands playing on street corners during the evening hawking their latest home-made CD.

And they are awesomely good. [The QUALITY of the video is much poorer than how they sounded IRL]

I spent the most of today pottering around Ueno and Asakusa getting re-familiarised with my DSLR. [Although I mostly ended up using the Program function when my initial forays into manual settings return only WHITE screens... *sigh* I will read the manual again on the train to Kyoto]

I have never been up to the Senso-ji temple itself as the last time I visited it was shortly after New Years day and the crowds were horrendous. After ten minutes and only getting 5 metres I decided to give it a miss.
This time there were hardly any adherents, mostly just tourists, like me, there to take photos and throw 1 yen coins into the donation chests.

Tomorrow I get up early to catch the train to Kyoto.

Oyasumi mina!

Gundam, originally uploaded by graney.

I went to odaiba and the thing is impressive.

18 metres tall.
Metal construction encased in plastic.

The head moves, left, right and looks into the sky while smoke billows out of various vents and some audio track introduces you to the pilots thoughts. [About being more environmentally sound. You can buy the gunpla kits nearby too!]

I got some video and will upload it to Flickr if and when I can.
[It only just exceeds the length limit and I do not have editing software on this netbook!]

But you get to see all the pictures. The day itself was gorgeous
I put on a ton of sunblock, but, as I later found out, not very evenly.

There are nasty red patches on the back of my neck and left hand and part of my right arm.

Oh, and yes, I DID walk between the Gundam’s legs.
We were asked not to take photos while under the Gundam itself and to keep moving. [We were allowed to in the line as much as we liked, even though that blocked the flow now and again.]

I was never really into mecha anime, but now, hmmm.

I was able coerce a fellow DSLR user to take my photo with the reciprocal offer for him with his.
So I am doing good this time around of getting myself in front of the lens as much as is possible.
[The biggest criticism I usually here is that I am never in any of my photos. One of the, few, downsides of vacationing alone.]

Look at the silly tourists getting their photos with Hachiko, originally uploaded by graney.

I woke up at about 6am on Monday and went for breakfast in the hotel.

I got out and up to Omotesando, but I had forgotten that none of the stores open until 11am. Which was an oversight, but a nice walk.

I then decided to look at what I had written about visiting places in my first dasy and I had cryptically written “Naka Meguro”.I found the station on my map and set off.
However, when I got there I found a quite residential area that I distinctly remember being to before.
I have no clue why I wanted to go there or why I did previously, or what I did there previously. Ah, well, I will put it down to jet-lag.

I then went up to Ginza and visited some of the large, expensive, department stores.
And some of them were not that expensive. At least not for everything. I noticed a chocolate muffin in Mitsukoshi cost only 1.65 EUR.
So prices are not always horrendous, even in the expensive places.

I then wandered up to the large Muji store in northern Ginza and bought some important stuff. Like a wallet and an expandable bag identical to the one I could not find while packing back in Amsterdam.

After going into the large Bic Camera and buying a pair of headphones I called Chris and arranged a meet-up time near Hachiko in Shibuya.

As I left the Shibuya Station to go back to the hotel, the heavens opened and I rushed back into the station and bought a station umbrella. I thought it strange that the other people with umbrellas were waiting for the rain to pass until I tried walking in it and got soaked, even with my umbrella, after about 3 metres.

After a brief rest, popping to the 7-11 for some cash, I then went to meet-up with Chris at the Hachiko statue.
There was quite a crowd around the statue,as ever, with many taking photos with it, and so when Chris arrived I got him to get a “tourist photo” of me and Haciko.

Chris then took me to the incongruously named “Pub American” which was very unlike a pub and not very American, but that had cheap beer and affordable food.

Chris’ better half turned up and we got through beers and sours, a new experience for me there I had a Yuzu Sour, and a table full of bar food. Still trying to understand what is “pub” or “American” about garlic rice.

The “pub” turned on it’s lights and threw out the clientele around 11:30, they got that bit right , and we parted ways with a plan to hook up when I get back from Kyoto.

I then wandered back to the Hotel using a scenic route and collapsed into bed.

Today I am going to Odaiba and getting some photos of the Gundam!
And also buying my Shinkansen ticket to Kyoto.