Photos from Japan!

It's been a long time since I came back from Japan, and I've yet to share the photos I took!
Forgive me for the quality of the photos since I haven't got Photoshop on my new computer (It's Vista and original Photoshop licenses cost a bomb.)
Good thing I saved my photos in my computer everyday and even wrote an itinerary of my day, so I've got the order down pretty much.

First up, we went to the Sumo stables. It was the week after the Sump competition so the Sumos were taking a break, that's why we couldn't get to meet any of the Sumos.
But I've got pictures of the Sumo museum. XD;;





And while we were walking back to the bus from the Sumo stables, I saw a train going by overhead. This for Aya, I know you like trains.



We went to the Yasukuni Shrine next. It's a sensitive topic, so I shan't dwell more on it.





We saw these slots shops that are apparently in vogue in Japan.



I found a poster for the Seed game, Rengou VS ZAFT.

The previous post was getting a bit too long so I shall start a new one. Hahaa.

Next up was the Asakusa shrine. That shrine with the big lantern. XD





Then it was the National Museum.



Here's some photos of Samurai helmets.







And a train interchange. The massive network is something I don't get to see over here in my country. XD



This is.. the bridge. I kind of forgot the name of it! D: It's that famous bridge in Tokyo. I think it's Rainbow bridge or something.

During dusk...


and at night!


And the big Ferris wheel at Odaiba.



I'll continue with the others later. Going out for lunch now!

Edit: I resized the photos smaller since they were kind of too big in my opinion and well, photobucket seems to have lowered the quality of my photos, they look better smaller. XD

wow tanth-chan...I love all these shots. You got some really good angles on these pics.^^ I've been dying to go to Japan for a long time now, but with the way I spend money on manga and anime + my bills for my car, rent, and cell phone...yeah...it'll be awhile before I get there. *laughs* My cousin has said that I could go with him on his C5 next time he leaves for there for a few days with the National Guard...the only problem with that is that he'd be busy working all the time and we'd only be there two, three days tops...so I wouldn't get to see all the nice things I want to see...or go mega shopping there like I've always wanted to. LOL

The Rainbow bridge is very pretty...kinda reminds me of the bridge here where I live, only longer and wider. lol The ferris wheel is very nice too...it kinda reminds me of the London Eye. It was really fun to ride that when I went to England, but it was also very scary because I'm deathly afraid of heights. lol...Maybe I should share some of my pics from England here too since you're showing your pretty ones dear.^^ Once I find them in the mess I call my room, I'll post them. lol^^

HotaruZala> Japan is a great place to go to. Save up! It doesn't cost that much to go to Japan from the US, right? (As I can see from your location) At least, I think so. ._.
2 or 3 days would be enough if you're planning to stay in Tokyo to do some shopping. Tokyo city isn't that big a place. Hahaa. If you plan to go for sight-seeing, then you might need more time. XD;;

Oooh. I haven't been to the states yet. I do wish to go there some time though. There seems to be big bridges like these in big countries. Hahaa.


And here are some other pictures. I'm not even halfway through them yet! XD

These are pictures of the Ghibli Museum from outside. Photography isn't allowed in the museum grounds, so I haven't got any. It's a really nice place though. The architecture inside and all. Really dream-like.



This is a picture of the exterior of Basho Museum. Again, photography isn't allowed inside, and there wasn't much to take anyway. There were a lot of scrolls of the Haiku written by Basho though, and some of his clothing. Apparently, Basho used to stay there.



For those who don't know, Basho is a famous Haiku poet in Japan. He went on some journeys around Japan and getting inspiration along the way, wrote quite a few Haiku.

This is the alley behind the museum. XD You can see the outskirts of Tokyo city.



And here's Ginza, one of the more famous shopping districts in Tokyo.



It was raining so the photos aren't that good. XD;;

We visited the Panasonic Factory too. It doesn't really look like a factory to me though. Hahaa. There was some Science playground kind of thing inside where we had fun with lots of experiments and the like (it IS a school trip after all. Hahaa.)



There was a huge Mario statue, and Wiis to play with. I didn't really play much since I already have the games they were letting us play. XD



And here's the ferris wheel in the day and Tokyo Bay.





Up next is the Tokyo-Edo Museum. As the name suggests, this museum focuses on the Tokyo in the Edo period. There are many miniatures of the buildings, people and life in Tokyo then. There are some other costumes, props, etc. used in the Edo period.

These were taken at the entrance.



The interior. The museum was done up pretty nicely. It was much more interesting than the others anyway (though Ghibli Museum still ranks top on my favourites list.) Again, for you, Aya. You like traditional architecture, right? XD Settle for the miniatures first, the real ones were taken at Kyoto and I'm uploading pictures chronologically. XD





Me and my friend sneaked off to Akihabara that day. Here's my train ticket (lol) and how trains look like on the inside in Tokyo.



Well, that looks like a lot of photos. I'll get back to posting the others tomorrow, or later at night if I'm done with my revision.

Finally my computer is letting me reply to your lovely topic, tanth. Stupid Windows Vista constantly jams

Are you kidding me ? The quality of these photos looks really good. Nice sharp details, and a very low level of pixel nuisance. And good colours !

It would've been cool to meet a real Sumo. But they can have days off too of course.
Yes yes, nice trains for Aya It's really lovely to see you thought of me during your trip. I've always liked this type of Japanese trains, so good pick !
There's been a time that slot shops were very popular too over here, especially at the coast. But lately, there are less and less to find. Also, they weren't as flashy as the one on your pic.
Hmmm, Gundam Seed poster ... Me wanna have


Ah yes, the Asakusa shrine. I've read an article of it half a year ago. I'd sure love to see it with my own eyes some day. It looks really impressive.
FABULOUS samurai helmets ! We had a course at training the other day about typical samurai outfits. Maybe some day, my sensei will take us to the Tokyo National museum too. That'd sure be great.
There's no lack of train network here in Belgium We have one of the most tight network in Europe. Or in other words, a lot of rail for a small country Too bad it results in a lot of delays


I'll have to reply to the rest tomorrow. Windows Vista is yet again completely messing up my Internet Explorer (that's the 9th time today !)

Aya> Vista is really a pain in the a**! I've been having some problems with mine too.

Well, I've got my camera to thank. XD It's a Sony DSC H9, so that explains the colours. The pixel noise is actually minimized when I resized them to be so tiny. Photobucket really reduces the quality of my photos. If you want to see any of the photos in greater detail, I'd be glad to share them. Just ask and I can send it to you over msn. The photos look great when seen on a HD screen. XD

I actually did see a Sumo when I walked past his house! Hahaa! I waved at him and he waved back too.
I always think about my friends all the time. I'll check if I've got pictures of the trains~
Maybe the Japanese like their stuff flashy.
The Seed poster was kind of worn out. ._.

Yeap, there are lots of stalls selling traditional stuff at the path leading to the shrine. There were daruma dolls, bokkens (I learnt that phrase from you!), rice crackers and the like.
There were a lot of Samurai helmets there! Too much for me to take photos of. XD;; Yea, seeing the helmets with your own eyes beats photos.
I sure would like to go there to take the trains. ._. Trains in Singapore are mostly underground. ._.

Hey, no problemo! I'll continue uploading the pictures.

Back to posting pictures.

Then it was off to Osaka. These attractions were all en route to Osaka.
Up next, it's Owadakuni, a hot springs place where they cook black eggs which are said to be good for longevity.







We went to this Peace Park (I have no idea where this is).



There were tons of statues from various countries pledging peace with Japan or something. So I think there weren't any statues from China.



This was from... Okinawa. Though I thought Okinawa was a part of Japan. No idea why they'd send statues over.


And Korea's.


And Thailand's. I didn't take a lot of the others. XD;;


Then of course, there's Mount Fuji! We got up to the 5th Station, but it was too misty so I couldn't take much photos.





The temperature honestly didn't feel like 20 Celsius.



Here's something interesting I found. Mount Fuji air for sale! XDXDXD

You bet Vista is ! I'm going to write a mail to Microsoft with all the complaints I have about Vista, because I'm really sick of all the trouble it causes.


Ok, back to commenting ^^

Yep, Rainbow Bridge is the correct name. It sure is an impressive construction. The biggest bridge we have is an old ugly steel monster that isn't even all that high above the water level of the river it crosses, and its only a mere 360 (a little more or less) meters long

The ferris wheel also reminds me of the London Eye. Just like Hotaru-sama, I have fear of hights, but I still enjoyed the ride a lot, since the view is great. It'd be a great idea to share your pics of London too, Hotaru-sama. Maybe I can share some of mine form trips to France as well.

The Ghibli museum looks a fantastic place to visit. I've seen pictures of how it looks inside, and it's certainly one of the places I would visit too if I would go on a trip to Japan. Sadly, just like Hotaru-sama, it costs too much for me to go now, so I'll have to save a bit longer. ^^ (I spend too much money buying anime stuff and manga too )
The weather looked a bit down on the day you visited the Basho Museum. I'm sure that with a little bit of extra sun, the outskirts of Tokyo look a lot better.
The pics of Ginza look nice ! I love the photographic angle you used.

Is that the Panasonic HQ ? It sure is a nice building. More and more companies are building factories that look like the Panasonic building. I believe it's the Ferrari factory that has tries planted all over the building along the assembly lines.
Lol, huge Mario
The ferris wheel looks a lot better by night ^^' But it's a rather big one I must say.
Ow I'd die to visit the Tokyo Edo museum ! You're damn right I love traditional Japanese architecture. I wouldn't have minded living in the Edo period, so I'm quite fascinated by this set of pictures.
Those are some really stunning miniatures ! What a superb level of detail. Truly amazing !
Sneaking off, tisk tisk. XD Nah, I would've done exact the same thing. In fact I once did during a school trip
Those trains look very clean on the inside, despite the large amount of people each day. They should take an example of it over here.


Ok, the rest is for later on.

Well, that does sound quite impressive for a bridge. We don't really have much bug structures here, due to a lack of land and all. ._. 360 meters sounds kind of long to me! Hahaa!

Yea, and maybe we can change the title of this thread to "Photos from our trips!"

I never knew there were pictures of the insides of the museum around. o-o I'm a lousy source-r. XD Seeing you guys, I think it's great still being a kid. At least my parents pay for my trips. XD;;
Yeap. The weather was really very wet those days. There were constant drizzles and strong winds. But it was really a nice change from the sweltering heat in Singapore.
Thanks for the compliments! Those are the few photographic shots that I tried.

I *think* it's the Panasonic HQ. Hahaa. There was a Science Park or something like that inside. And there were a lot of Panasonic goods too. You sure know a lot about factories. XD
The day photo was meant for a clearer view of the size, since I wasn't really near it when I took the night photo. XD;;

I would love to live in that era too. Everything seems so honorable, dignified...
Yea! And these are just the few photos I took. The sheer number of miniatures were truly amazing.
Ahah! Aya's a naughty one. XD Where did you sneak off to, anyway?

And I shall upload more again. XD

En route to Mastumoto-jo! The scenery was pretty good at Matsumoto. Clean place (well, everywhere's clean in Japan anyway).


You can see the castle in the distance!






This is one of the museums there.


There were more miniatures in there! This time of the castle.


Then it was off to some folk village called the Hida no Sato.







Dango for sale!


And here I am at.. some town. XD It's a traditional shopping district where I am.





Something cute I found outside a shop.


And here's a beef kebab I had! It was deliciousssssssssssss. It's some local specialty, if my memory doesn't fail me.

A lot of people are having problems with Vista. An ex-teacher of me already had to reinstall everything on his new computer 3 times !

Sony camera's are really good ! Mine's a Sony too (from the Cybershot series), and I'm really glad with it. It's already 4 years old, survived a wave of sea water, and yet it still makes pictures as good as on day one.
Well I have a Full HD 1080 screen, so feel free to send if you want ^^

Wah, that's really cool. Especially since he waved back. Must've felt special I guess.
That's a real honorable thing of you to do, I mean it.
Yeah, they're known for it. Like when you give them a present, the flashier the wrapping is, the more they will like it. Toy boxes are a great example too.
Ow. Well in that case, they can keep it. XD

Glad to see Aya-sensei's lessons are still fresh in your memory
Where they displaying katana's as well ?
Yeah, trains don't go undergound here, except for a couple of tunnels and the central stations of Brussel and Antwerpen. Antwerpen-centraal even has several levels below ground. It's really a fabulous construction.


Owkay, rest of the pics.


Wow, that hot spring looks really mysterious. Especially the last shot. It's as if there could turn up an akuma or a yokai every second.
The Peace park looks nice. I like the Okinawa statue most out of the ones you showed.
Mount Fuji Too bad it was so misty. The view must be spectacular up there when there's full sunshine.
It honestly doesn't look like 20 Celcius
XD The Japanese do really sell everything. XD Then again, when I went to Rome, there was a day we visited one of the most nearby beaches, and there they were selling 'so called' ( ) bottled air from the exact middle of the Mediterranean Sea. >_>'


This post is getting pretty long, so I'll put the rest in a second one.

And here it is (the rest XD)

It sounds more spectacular than it actually is. In fact, it's a really ugly thing. There are plans for a spectacular new bridge in Antwerpen called 'De Lange Wapper'. THAT is a spectacular design, but seen the massive protest it'll take a while before building starts (if it will that is).

So far I'd leave it like this. It's your topic after all. If we want to post our pics, we'll make another topic ^^

There are very few to find, and it was only allowed for a unique article about the museum. And yes, enjoy your time still being younger than 18 as much as possible ! ^^
I know what you mean. At the moment, we're having temperatures up to 30 Celcius. So in our case that means sweating and moaning all day long in between thunder storms ^^'
You've earned them !

It looks like the HQ type of building to me. And I knowledge of factories doesn't stretch much further than this XD

Yes, that's exactly how I feel about it too.
Wow !
Oh you bet Aya is Well lets say that I was about 100 kilometers away from where I was supposed to be, without the teachers ever finding out (!). It was that or either stupid boring group "sports" activities x_x

Picture commenting time again !


Powerlines crossing the streets. That's something we over here don't get to see often anymore. And especially not criss cross like in Matsumoto. I have to agree that it looks very clean. And the view is really nice.
FABULOUS castle. I really love this type of Japanese architecture. I'm really stunned by the beauty and grace of the building and the ever so lovely scenery around it.
Again, a very lovely model.
The folk village looks such a relaxing place to be. I like the picture on the right of the first one with the fishes. Very lovely. And it looks as if you've got a lot of luck with the weather that day.
Some town ... lol XD All those towns look so lovely calm and care-free.

Again, a really nice collection of pics !

Screw Vista over. If only new computers don't come in Vista. Your teacher should really write in to Vista! 3 times is kind of a lot.

Mine's a cybershot too. Heh, I realized, we're both Sony fans! A wave of seawater... I really wonder what you've been doing with your camera for it to go through so much suffering.
Well, if there are any pictures you like in particular, I'd be glad to send it to you. XD

Yea, and guess what. The Sumo finale for this season just took place yesterday, and he won the championship! DDD: I was watching the match at my Sensei's place and I thought he looked really familiar, till I saw his name and found out he was that Sumo!
They've got the non-flashy side to them too! Think Zen.

Yeap, they were displaying Katanas too! Since you bothered asking, I guess you want to see them, eh? XD I'll upload them after I'm done with this post!
I'd like to see it someday. Belgium sounds like a nice place.
Oooh! Maybe we should start a thread posting photos of our own country!

Mm! There were lots of smoke, and the stench of sulphur was really strong in the air. That's why we couldn't stay there for a long time.
Yea! The last time I was there, I couldn't go up to the fifth station. And when I finally got to go up, it's all misty. See! It doesn't even look 20 Celsius. The thermometer lies.
How would you know where the air came from, anyway. XD I can bottle up Fuji air on my own, I wouldn't need to buy it! Air from the middle of the Mediterranean sea is a bit more special than Mount Fuji air! XD

I guess my post is getting a bit long too. Hahaa. On to the next one!

The post turned out looking shorter than I thought it would be! XD;;

Ah, I heard about the protests too. My mother was telling me about it. And I finally saw people being washed off their feet with the water cannons you told me about! During the time when the Koreans were rioting against beef imports.

Ooh, I see. What was the article about anyway? Maybe I should go source around and see if they've got a website or something.
You're complaining with 30 Celsius? XD;; The highest we get here is like 36! Living near the equator isn't such a good thing after all.

Let's just assume it's the HQ then! XD;;

I don't like sports too, 'cause I'm not really good at them. But some of my classmates still think I look sporty.

I think it's because Matsumoto is a rather 'country-side' town in Japan. It's far out in the mountains and in the middle of the bigger cities.
Yeap, and the fact that it was such a cooling weather then, it was a really relaxing and lovely place to be.
The town looked really old. But the tranquility there is really a big and welcome change from the city.

Thanks! I've still got a lot more to go, though. Hahaa! Bear with me for a lil!

Pictures that I uploaded last night but didn't get the time to post them up!

Some old temple somewhere in Japan. I can't really remember the name of the temple.





And here's Nara! The place where deers walk about freely. I'm kind of scared of deers, so forgive the boring angles since I didn't dare to go near them.







Kiyomizu-dera (Literally translated to clear water temple) in Kyoto (I think XD;; )





Outside the Kyoto Palace since we couldn't enter it that day. XD;;

3 times is indeed too much for a new computer. Anyway, I have sent a letter to Windows Benelux with my complaints. I wonder if they're going to do an effort to reply. I'll growl if they dont XD

Yeah, it's really funny how we both have AND a Sony Cybershot, AND a Sony Vaio. I guess you can call us indeed Sony lovers.
Well, we went on a, quite exciting, boat trip to watch some clifs in Bretagne from the sea. The guy had to keep up a certain speed in order not to have the boat rolling over too much. But since we were really close to some rocks he had to slow down a bit, and that's when a rather big wave banged over the boat. I was lucky to cover the camera with my body, so that I was the most soaked one out of the two. XD
I'll have a second look to all of them when I get back from my trip. I'm rather busy now, so I'd like to do it not in hurry. ^^

Really ?! ° - ° OMG, that is sooooooooooooo cool. Now you must even feel more special.

Bump for katana's ! I already know I'm going to like them. I once saw an authentic ancient katana for sale, but it was too expensive for me, sadly.
Sounds like yes, but being such a nice place ... hmmm, not really. It might of course be because I live here all my life. There are some really nice spots though, but I'm sure not as much as in other European countries.
Here's a link to a pic of Antwerpen Centraal Station (the pic's too big to post here), showing it's great monumental value:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_q8R1NfNSfgo/RwatZiGWlsI/AAAAAAAAAK0/ALujoN_5r6A/22092007074.jpg

Ow, the stench of sulpher. Maybe the devil was nearby Yeah, it sure looks chillier than 20° Then again, mist always makes the air feel colder than it actually is.
Maybe so, but still it's all a big rip off to me. Who knows, maybe the guys selling it have just farted in it XD

Large cities always attract a couple of riots and protests each year. It seems to become a normal thing over here.

I think it was either in AnimeLand or Neo ... Can't really remember it (with all the mags I have, it's normal I lose track of which article to find where ')
Yeah for us 30° is really too much. We're used to average temperatures of 15°, up to 23, 25 in summer. It's luckily still not as hot as in 2006. Then we had temperatures around 30° for nearly an entire month. And a negative point of warm weather here is that it always ends up in thunder storms. Monday evening, there's been a massive thunder storm that tore down trees, flooded several tows and it was really one lightning bolt after another for more than 2 hours !

XD Owkay XD

I sucked at sports. Nowadays a bit less since I go to gym and samurai training. But I truly hated PE classes. That's why I didn't feel like spending an entire day, wasting my time playing dumb sports activities and probably making myself look like a compleet fool

Myeah, that sounds like a good reason. ^^
It sure looks that way.
It must've been great, escaping from the busy life of the city in a lovely place like that. Hmmm, I can already imagine it. *daydreams*


Wow, gorgeous temple. It looks very old, seeing that 4th pic. I really adore the traditional Japanese roofs, and this temple is the perfect example why. The building looks great seen from the garden. very peacefully.
Ow, how cool. The third pic is a nice shot. Reminds me a bit of the caves of Han. They used to have deers running freely too. Don't know if it's still like that now. I do know they have several species of wild animals in the park, like bears, wolves, deer and even lynx cats (or however you spell that correctly).
But Nara sure looks a nice place to visit.
Kiyomizu-dera ... sugoiiiiiii ! Now that is a really really nice building. Especially the part shown on the first pic really fascinates me. Too bad I see it was a rainy day. Must've been so nice to see it below a sunny sky. But truly, what a fascinating place. Ow I'm surely going to add this on my to-visit list whenever I go to Japan.
Kyoto Palace is a good example of how ancient palaces looked like, with that typical entrance and the big walls surrounding. Get rid of the concrete streets, and this could look like a building from an anime series (Harukanaru to name one).

@tanth : huaaa...you're so lucky!! I want to go to Japan too sumday ^^...Guess I have to save all photos you've posted hahahah.....the air looks so clean and fresh unlike in my hometown hahaha.....

Awright, gotta save all your photos..Jya na ^^