Darlo's World

To read the original entry, please click here ( http://www.darlosworld.co.uk/2011/12/25/on-why-im-a-crap-tourist-and-disneyland/ )

Well it’s Christmas Day here in Japan, and in UK (albeit the wee hours of the morning. Here that generally means its just another Sunday. Since I know that many people don’t celebrate and/or particularly care about Christmas, I’m going to steal a line from Bob ‘MovieBob’ Chipman. “Whatever you’re having, have a happy one.”

I’m writing this blog entry from a Starbucks in the Asakusa area of Tokyo, and I’m doing it from my iPhone. That means all the pictures you’ll see were added after I wrote this. Why my iPhone you ask? Well I’m actually lugging my laptop around and wanted to write using it, but this Starbucks doesn’t give any ‘consent’ (an in-joke for anyone who knows the Japanese word for plug socket).

Mr Incredible comes out to meet the fans.

So I’ve been in Tokyo for a few days now and on the whole I’ve done very little in terms of touristy things. I’ve got another week here and I am actually trying to be the camera wearing bumbag toting tourist, only without the camera around the neck, no bumbag and I’d sooner die before saying something along the lines of “Hey Mable, take a picture of me with this little guy in a suit, poor thing thinks he’s a big shot or something” (yes I did hear a loud American-accented man shout that across a road this morning).

My first night here was a bit of a bust, I’ll be honest. For my last week at work I was viciously fighting off a cold and it finally took control just as I left my house to go to the airport. So an early night followed by a late morning, though I still managed to go to a local coffee shop for coffee and curry.

Christmas Turkey at Disney?

My first full day in Tokyo was spent mainly wandering around my locality. I have a copy of Lonely Planet Japan, but when I tried to read it my non-tourist instincts kicked in. I thought to myself how if I wanted to get the best views of certain places (and also stay warm) I’d be better off just looking on Google Images. So I dart onto my social network accounts and appeal for places to go. Thankfully my friends came to the rescue, giving me a few ideas.

The reverse side of Kaminarimon. I was here, but doesn't this image I found on Google Images look way better than a pic I could have took? I aren't you still warm? This picture is by Reza187.

I’ve always been the first to admit that when it comes to ‘tourism’ I’m the worst. I don’t like crowds of people meandering from side to side, not knowing where they’re going, stopping suddenly to take a picture of a cat, to faff, or to just stare with a blank expression on their face. I hate it even more so when I’m actually a part of that crowd!

Whenever I go to a new city or a new place (note how I didn’t say country) I DO like to spend my time aimlessly wondering around. But there’s a difference between me and those groups. For one, as an individual I’m less likely to get in the way of anyone, and when I stop to gawk at something I think about moving to the side, where nobody’s trying to get through. I also try to see the non-marketed, and non-’idealised’ areas of places, in order to see what they’re really like. It’s all well and good saying you’ve been to Tokyo, then reeling off a list of places you’ve visited that anyone with the same guidebook would know. But for me that’s not good enough. By just doing that, I could never say comfortably that I’d been to Tokyo.

I prefer my translation of the Japanese, If you get wet, well, soz about that!

So Disneyland! Don’t get me wrong, there ARE some touristy areas I know and DO want to go to, as yesterday’s trip to Disneyland shows. I’d been to EuroDisney once when I was young (which involved a fun moment where I became king for the day after pulling the sword from the stone … true story!), so I thought a Disney trip with a friend would be a nice relaxing time, as well as a bit of a nostalgic moment. Tokyo Disney is much smaller than (I remember) it’s French equivalent (being), but we still had a great time. We managed to go on the three big ‘mountain’ rides (Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain) as well as some of the other smaller rides (which were still very good). Unfortunately I didn’t get to meet (or even see someone dressed up in full garb as) Mickey Mouse, nor did I find a stone with a sword to yank on. Innuendo, lol.

This being said, no one really goes to Disneyland for the rides, the attractions, or the shops and restaurants. You go for the queues! And being British, I certainly enjoyed that part! The three big rides each having lines of over two hours in length, and smaller ones with lines of between 25 and 40 minutes, ahh good times. Even the restaurant had a nice 45 minute line.

So while I still have some time left in Tokyo before going back to the countryside in Shimonoseki, I do have a few touristy spots that I want to go to, and am still trying to be touristy to a degree (I’m in Starbucks for petes sake), but I genuinely can’t think of many touristy spots that I ‘should’ see, or things I ‘should’ do. If you have any suggestions, please write them in the comments box below.

Shitsurei shimouse!

Update: Found a McDonalds with powerpoints in the smoking section, phew, *cough* *cough*!

Darlo on Splash Mountain, or is that Usain Bolt? Or even Hulk Hogan back in the day?

To read the original entry, please click here ( http://www.darlosworld.co.uk/2011/08/28/lets-crack-on/ )

Everyday for the last month, I’ve woken up and been reminded about how fortunate I am, and also how proud some people are of me.

Well folks, I’m back in Japan and (now that I have internet once more) will be updating you on all my little adventures as I talk to you from Takibe, a village in the town of Houhoku-chou, a mountainous town that in 2005 became a part of Shimonoseki-shi, the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture, the largest Prefecture on the main island of Japan, Honshu.

After a few days in Tokyo I headed West to start my new life, and since it’s been a good few weeks since that i won’t go into every single detail right now. But what I can say is that I have been to three festivals, danced in one of them, seen two awesome fireworks displays, rented a car, got a Japanese driving license, stayed in a cabin style capsule hotel, bought a stuffed toy to be my housemate, took a stroll in an inactive volcano crater, and engaged in an intense war on insects dwelling in my home (kind of an ‘I was here first’ vs ‘I’m paying the rent now’ battle).

My little house in the country

So lets start out with my house. It’s a great place and my little towns awesome too. It’s the complete opposite of the cities I’ve become used to, be they Leeds or Osaka (Telford? hmm … ), so everyday instead of traffic and other noise I here the sound of nature. Yeah, sometimes that nature can be pretty loud, particularly the cicadas!

On the topic of bugs, every few days or so I go to the local store for a top-up of strong roach spray. I’m determined to get these little buggers out of here (or at least make them pay some rent).

Bug bomb, I choose you!

One problem though is that insects & bugs are seasonal, so even if I wipe out all the roaches now, I know I’m doomed to have some other creature come winter. I’m also tackling the emerging threat of spiders. By the way, if you’re ever looking for an arguement for evolution, Japanese spiders jump (literally) out of the way when you go to whomp them!

Only way to be sure they're gone is to check every (tom) nook.

Living in the countryside a car is an absolute must. Doing my job I will be going to 13 different schools spread far and wide, so without a car my worklife would be almost impossible.

The car I'm renting.

On a recent overnight trip to nearby Fukuoka, home of baseball team the Softbank Hawks …

I saw these little guys sitting on the back of the bus.

I wanted to try sleeping in a capsule hotel. Unfortunately the one I found was a bit too expensive. However I stumbled across a ‘cabin’ hotel which has a similar concept. I’d describe it as sleeping in hostel dorms but with a lot more privacy (and pretty comfortable too!).

The cabin hotel. Yes I had lots of leg room.

Soon Yamaguchi will host a sports tournament and have one of the cutest mascots I’ve seen for quite some time. I couldn’t help but buy a stuffed toy of him. He’s become quite a reliable housemate.

'Choruru', named after a phrase in the local dialect, with a head representing the Chinese characters for Yamaguchi.

It took a little longer than I’d wanted to visit a shrine or temple since arriving, but I finally got around to it on a recent trip up to Hagi after getting my Japanese driving license (I’ll write a seperate blog entry for that later on).

The Shoin Shrine.

The first festival I went to was a fireworks battle between Shimonoseki city and Kitakyushu across the Kanmon Straights.

An awesome display of fireworks, even saw a couple of Pikachu fireworks.

My second festival was also in Shimonoseki City, the Bakan Festival (Bakan being the old name for Shimonoseki). I had to try and learn a dance for this festival, and since I lived too far from the practice classes, had to kinda go with the flow. I don’t think I did too bad … I hope, rather.

Let's Dance!

And finally last night was my local town’s (Houhoku-chou) festival. A lot of cool stage events, and lanterns to enjoy.

Lanterns made from plastic bottles.

And of course a fantastic fireworks display.

This was taken near the start, but the fireworks at the end were really stunning.

Well folks, that’s about it for a very quick round up. As I say now I’ve got actual internet I’ll keep you updated a lot more often. I invite you to check out my Twitter feed as I often update my smaller comings and goings on there. So, until next time!