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rkoldLots of people have posted about the election, and I don't really have anything much to add except I am sure Obama will work hard to get us that East Coast Volks Store he has been wishing for and now he is sure to get his own Sei-tenshi. /this is a joke
Interestingly enough Hawaii was the bluest state in the Union and Oklahoma was the reddest.It even beat UTAH! OMG o_O;
Sunday October 26 was Osaka Comic City and trying to meet up with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chocolate_chip, misspaulette and akaisakura felt more like a comedy of errors than it probably should have. Originally we were meeting at the Kyoto train station but all 3 of us were running late. I met up with Emily no problem, but then the train doors closed and Paulette was not with us. Normally, this would not be such a huge deal but I was a bit stressed about meeting Janet and not keeping her waiting for us. After having to get on and off the train to wait for Paulette's, trying to figure out the Osaka Loop line and feeling like we were changing trains every 2 minutes we got to Intex and met Janet. Osaka Comic City October seemed much smaller than I remembered it being in 2003, but on the bright side we got to wait under the awning which was super nice when it started to rain. Plus the cover of the book was Geass ♥ even if it was the pretty het SuzaEuphie circle and we all know Euphie would so top him >>; Overall the fact the event was small was actually a huge plus because it meant plenty of time to look at merchandise. I have to say Osaka hands down has the BEST merchandise. It has a way better good section than Tokyo, except maybe at Comiket and Comiket is such a pain it's just not worth it I bought lots of random cute things and tried on hats and looked at jewelry and it was fun! I got Irena who met us there and Janet to help me Takyuubin my purchases back to the hotel since my back is a little more sensitive to weight and I'd bought quite a bit, though most of it was not for me! I'm looking at you sumeragiskank Plus I got 3 sketches so it felt overall very productive! :D We then went shopping in Namba and Shinsaibashi and I got a Volks Yo Boy outfit I'd wanted thanks to Paulette and wangsted over the lack of Geass calendar. Eventually we went to dinner at the Kobe Garlic Restaurant since I was not sure everyone else would like the vegan place I like. >>;; Though we probably should have just gone to Pastel.
Monday I headed off to Kanazawa to complete my 3 big gardens with Kenroku-en. I checked the weather and there was only a 60% chance of rain which is high but not so high that the trip seemed like a repeat of Ise. About the time the train got to Fukui (1 hour or so from Kanazawa) it started to drizzle and by the time I got to Kanazawa it was full fledged rain. I immediately went to the depato of sorts attached to the station and picked up a 1000 yen compact umbrella, then visited the tourist offices, got advice on how to take the bus to the places I wanted went outside and... and the rain had stopped! ♥ So since the weather was fine for the time being and I hate Japanese buses I headed off to the castle and gardens. I visited a small temple and a shinto shrine on my way there and about the time I go to the castle park it started to drizzle again. The ramparts of the castle are being worked on so I got to wander through some construction in the drizzle. The rest of my visit to Kanazawa there was on and off again rain, sometimes quite hard. In fact there was even thunder and lightening which I hear is not as common in Japan during storms. The gardens them selves were just beautiful and despite the rain were a popular destination. Again, the fall colors were only just starting but it was easy to see the potential for how lovely the gardens would be in true season. I particularly liked all the streams and ponds in the garden, which also meant lots of cute little bridges to cross over. By the time I was leaving the rain had stopped again temporarily so I walked back to the station and caught a train back to Kyoto. I then packed up my suitcases with the plans to takyuubin them to the airport the next morning since my flight was not until 6 pm on Wednesday. I also finally used the onsen on the roof of my hotel. It was lovely but all the Japanese guests looked completely horrified to have this funny looking foreigner with them lol
Tuesday I went around 8:00 am to forward on my suitcases to the airport only to discover that unlike a hotel, the airport wants at least 48 hours to ensure luggage safely. I was a bit put out, not the least of which since I was not sure I could manage to get my suitcases to the airport on my own and there is no place I could easily leave them for the day and they will only take them as a checkin 4 hours before your flight. After much broken Japanese and frustration I ended up in the YamatoNeko office almost right across from my hotel and someone who was willing to just this once make an exception for a dumb foreigner since my flight WAS more than 30 hours from when I was trying to do this. I so appreciate the patience of Tachibana-san and Kimura whose names I managed to read in hiragana! Go me! I then went to Inari and took some pictures before doing the hike to Tofukuji like I always wanted to! There were no signs, but it proved easier than one would think, the hardest part being the bit once one climbed down the hill. Tofukuji was a lovely temple and I paid extra to visit its garden which I am sure is just lovely in momiji season. I then debated lunch and eventually picked a "slow food" organic place near the station.. which served weird Korean food...and said they got I was a vegetarian and then served me meat.. .... I then hopped on a rapid trainYeah for Tofukuji being a rapid stop even when Inari is not! for Nara to ummm buy honey. ^^;;; I really love this one flavored honey from Japan and it makes the best tempeh marinade and train travel is free with a pass so umm yeah.. ok, I am a moron. >>;; I then went back to my hotel to drop things off before heading off to meet chocolate_chip for my last dinner in Japan. We went to Proverbs, where I got my new possibly favorite dish in Japan, soymilk ramen. OMG it was so amazing and rich and creamy and was like a huge amount and not that expensive and I dream of eating it again. In fact I think next trip to Japan I have to go there several times ;;_;; Soymilk Ramen!!!!
My last day in Japan involved taking the train to Osaka and getting a locker at OCAT so I could shop and meet Janet for lunch. We went to an amazing little Indian place near her job and I was just in awe of how good it was! Plus they gave you a ton of food for only 780 yen. :D I so want to go back now. I also discovered that Osaka is fun to walk around, I just wish I had a decent map of the city. ;;_;; I got in quite a bit of shopping though not all the places I had intended and then hopped on the OCAT bus to KIX. BTW the OCAT bus is great, only 880 yen! :D I got my suitcase from baggage delivery service and turned in my rental keitai and got an upgrade to Business Class on the KIX to SFO leg. I had to put up with the creep in the Red Carpet Club but so it goes. I then managed to get standby on a 2 hour earlier flight to NY.
The Buddhist Temple I forgot the name of, sadly they were not giving out stamps
I think that puddle was not intended but I really liked the way it looked with the moss and stones
Oyama jinja, which is distinctive for being built in the late 1800's and being heavily influenced by western architecture as evidenced by its form and stain glass.
There were a lot of people having children blessed at the shrine, though it seems a bit early for Shichi-Go-San
The grounds of Kanazawa Castle
The construction work
A better view of the work from the causeway you need to take to get to the front of the castle
I thought behind that wall was just a garden, but it seems it is some of the ruins of the original castle there.
The castle ruins garden
More of the grounds
The entrance to Kenrokuen
Yeah for moss!
The start of Fall foliage and the famous Kotoji Latern
These poor men had to clean much out of the stream... in the rain
Out of season azalea
Buddha does not mind the rain.
A nice couple from Hokkaido took my picture ♥
The rain coming in lol
This is the oldest fountain in Japan
Another picture of the Kotoji lantern once the crowds had thinned due to the rain
Out of season wisteria vines
The main entrance to Fushimi Inari
I loved this sign I found while hiking to Tofukuji
The weather improved! This is a picture of the famouse entrance gate at Tofukuji
The garden at Tofukuji
It's almost like a mini Kiyomizudera!
In season this must be spectacular
Suzaku enjoys buddhist temples despite being shinto.
And is proud of his country's castles
Gino is more interested in Suzaku
Lelouch resents Gino hogging all the time with Suzaku
Suzaku enjoys leaf viewing
Gino prefers Suzaku viewing
Lelouch was getting annoyed with Gino during these pictures >>;
Suzaku contemplates the garden
Gino contemplates getting his picture taken
Lelouch and Suzaku doing a their version of the R2 2ED picture
Suzaku and the fountain
And just forreynardine A tiny video I made with my camera of Fushimi Inari! My voice is super hoarse since usually it is closer to an octave higher but it's weird because that is how my voice usually sounds in my head, just not when I hear it played back.
Enjoy!
Interestingly enough Hawaii was the bluest state in the Union and Oklahoma was the reddest.
Sunday October 26 was Osaka Comic City and trying to meet up with
chocolate_chip, misspaulette and akaisakura felt more like a comedy of errors than it probably should have. Originally we were meeting at the Kyoto train station but all 3 of us were running late. I met up with Emily no problem, but then the train doors closed and Paulette was not with us. Normally, this would not be such a huge deal but I was a bit stressed about meeting Janet and not keeping her waiting for us. After having to get on and off the train to wait for Paulette's, trying to figure out the Osaka Loop line and feeling like we were changing trains every 2 minutes we got to Intex and met Janet. Osaka Comic City October seemed much smaller than I remembered it being in 2003, but on the bright side we got to wait under the awning which was super nice when it started to rain. Plus the cover of the book was Geass ♥ sumeragiskankMonday I headed off to Kanazawa to complete my 3 big gardens with Kenroku-en. I checked the weather and there was only a 60% chance of rain which is high but not so high that the trip seemed like a repeat of Ise. About the time the train got to Fukui (1 hour or so from Kanazawa) it started to drizzle and by the time I got to Kanazawa it was full fledged rain. I immediately went to the depato of sorts attached to the station and picked up a 1000 yen compact umbrella, then visited the tourist offices, got advice on how to take the bus to the places I wanted went outside and... and the rain had stopped! ♥ So since the weather was fine for the time being and I hate Japanese buses I headed off to the castle and gardens. I visited a small temple and a shinto shrine on my way there and about the time I go to the castle park it started to drizzle again. The ramparts of the castle are being worked on so I got to wander through some construction in the drizzle. The rest of my visit to Kanazawa there was on and off again rain, sometimes quite hard. In fact there was even thunder and lightening which I hear is not as common in Japan during storms. The gardens them selves were just beautiful and despite the rain were a popular destination. Again, the fall colors were only just starting but it was easy to see the potential for how lovely the gardens would be in true season. I particularly liked all the streams and ponds in the garden, which also meant lots of cute little bridges to cross over. By the time I was leaving the rain had stopped again temporarily so I walked back to the station and caught a train back to Kyoto. I then packed up my suitcases with the plans to takyuubin them to the airport the next morning since my flight was not until 6 pm on Wednesday. I also finally used the onsen on the roof of my hotel. It was lovely but all the Japanese guests looked completely horrified to have this funny looking foreigner with them lol
Tuesday I went around 8:00 am to forward on my suitcases to the airport only to discover that unlike a hotel, the airport wants at least 48 hours to ensure luggage safely. I was a bit put out, not the least of which since I was not sure I could manage to get my suitcases to the airport on my own and there is no place I could easily leave them for the day and they will only take them as a checkin 4 hours before your flight. After much broken Japanese and frustration I ended up in the YamatoNeko office almost right across from my hotel and someone who was willing to just this once make an exception for a dumb foreigner since my flight WAS more than 30 hours from when I was trying to do this. I so appreciate the patience of Tachibana-san and Kimura whose names I managed to read in hiragana! Go me! I then went to Inari and took some pictures before doing the hike to Tofukuji like I always wanted to! There were no signs, but it proved easier than one would think, the hardest part being the bit once one climbed down the hill. Tofukuji was a lovely temple and I paid extra to visit its garden which I am sure is just lovely in momiji season. I then debated lunch and eventually picked a "slow food" organic place near the station.. which served weird Korean food...and said they got I was a vegetarian and then served me meat.. .... I then hopped on a rapid train
chocolate_chip for my last dinner in Japan. We went to Proverbs, where I got my new possibly favorite dish in Japan, soymilk ramen. OMG it was so amazing and rich and creamy and was like a huge amount and not that expensive and I dream of eating it again. In fact I think next trip to Japan I have to go there several times ;;_;; Soymilk Ramen!!!! My last day in Japan involved taking the train to Osaka and getting a locker at OCAT so I could shop and meet Janet for lunch. We went to an amazing little Indian place near her job and I was just in awe of how good it was! Plus they gave you a ton of food for only 780 yen. :D I so want to go back now. I also discovered that Osaka is fun to walk around, I just wish I had a decent map of the city. ;;_;; I got in quite a bit of shopping though not all the places I had intended and then hopped on the OCAT bus to KIX. BTW the OCAT bus is great, only 880 yen! :D I got my suitcase from baggage delivery service and turned in my rental keitai and got an upgrade to Business Class on the KIX to SFO leg. I had to put up with the creep in the Red Carpet Club but so it goes. I then managed to get standby on a 2 hour earlier flight to NY.
The Buddhist Temple I forgot the name of, sadly they were not giving out stamps
I think that puddle was not intended but I really liked the way it looked with the moss and stones
Oyama jinja, which is distinctive for being built in the late 1800's and being heavily influenced by western architecture as evidenced by its form and stain glass.
There were a lot of people having children blessed at the shrine, though it seems a bit early for Shichi-Go-San
The grounds of Kanazawa Castle
The construction work
A better view of the work from the causeway you need to take to get to the front of the castle
I thought behind that wall was just a garden, but it seems it is some of the ruins of the original castle there.
The castle ruins garden
More of the grounds
The entrance to Kenrokuen
Yeah for moss!
The start of Fall foliage and the famous Kotoji Latern
These poor men had to clean much out of the stream... in the rain
Out of season azalea
Buddha does not mind the rain.
A nice couple from Hokkaido took my picture ♥
The rain coming in lol
This is the oldest fountain in Japan
Another picture of the Kotoji lantern once the crowds had thinned due to the rain
Out of season wisteria vines
The main entrance to Fushimi Inari
I loved this sign I found while hiking to Tofukuji
The weather improved! This is a picture of the famouse entrance gate at Tofukuji
The garden at Tofukuji
It's almost like a mini Kiyomizudera!
In season this must be spectacular
Suzaku enjoys buddhist temples despite being shinto.
And is proud of his country's castles
Gino is more interested in Suzaku
Lelouch resents Gino hogging all the time with Suzaku
Suzaku enjoys leaf viewing
Gino prefers Suzaku viewing
Lelouch was getting annoyed with Gino during these pictures >>;
Suzaku contemplates the garden
Gino contemplates getting his picture taken
Lelouch and Suzaku doing a their version of the R2 2ED picture
Suzaku and the fountain
And just for
reynardine A tiny video I made with my camera of Fushimi Inari! My voice is super hoarse since usually it is closer to an octave higher but it's weird because that is how my voice usually sounds in my head, just not when I hear it played back.Enjoy!
