Showing posts with label Discovering Japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Discovering Japan. Show all posts

Sunday, August 02, 2009

SOS団の活動として...

Let's hope I wont be shot by a beam rifle by some sensei we all know for writing this post!XD

I'm not a Gundam fan actually, but what I saw today made me "re-consider"!
As an activity to the new made SOS-dan (short for Sごい日本の文化 wO Siるための団), today I went with two lab mates to Odaiba and met a real-life size Gundam!
The incredible detail level on this 1:1 model left me speechless!!!
It was built on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Gundam anime.
Pictures would have been much more nice if the weather was sunny...


SOS団 members


No comment


I wish I can ride on top of it









Makes me think if Japan really wants to build a real operational Gundam, nothing will stop it!
Here is the official website : http://www.gundam30th.net/event/real-g.html

We also went to a game center and I played 太鼓の達人to my heart's content!
I proudly won easily over the DAN members but was disastrously defeated by this little cute genius we met there !


Playing the ONI mode with an "uh, a piece of cake" face!

It was such a great day!!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

K-chan on the summit of Fuji san

So here comes the long waited post!
What do you do after finishing a killing semester?
Ofcourse, GO ON A BIG ADVENTURE!!

Finally I had the honor to stand on the top of my beloved Fuji san, 3776m of elevation, the ultimate highest point in Japan!
Fujisan on Wikipedia


Nice shot taken from the bus

Sunday July 19th 7:45 am -> Assembly at Shinjuku station
Then move by bus to the Fuji san 5th station (富士山五合目) .. around 4 to 5 hours (?). Highways were crowded that day so it took a long time to arrive.
So reaching the 5th station, what are you waiting for? LET'S GO!!!


Participants : It's easy to find me, the most Japan enthusiastic even among Japanese! The girls are from OCHA NO MIZU women's university, the man to the left in the background is their professor (a TOP athelete! and was a student of my professor some years ago), the guy in the front is from the same lab as mine. There were also other participants from a 3rd university and an OB from our lab..so total around 17 people 80%of which are girls.

It is said that you can experience the 4 seasons while you are climbing Fujisan. And that was totally true! .. The more you climb, the more clothes you start putting on. The weather on the top was officially winter! many layers of sweaters, 3 pairs of trousers, gloves, scarf and a warm hat...all of this and I was trembling in cold.


After the 6th station by around 1 hour


I didn't realise how much was hidden in the clouds at that time.. Still near the 6th station!
Toooo many people made moving forward a slow process.. It was dangerously crowded at steep places..I was imagining if only one person slips down, he will take hundreds with him!



The amazing sunrays from whithn the clouds..about to reach the 7th sation

The climbing process was divided into 2 parts:
First day we keep moving until sunset time.. reaching around the 7th station and rest for about 4 hours in one of the mountain huts (..which looked to me rather like a war shelter! ).
Then at around 11PM the night of that same day we move again to reach the top by sunrise.


View from the front of the mountain hut at sunset

When we were about to reach the 7th station (when we started entering that big cloud above), it started to rain. Oops, I didn't prepare myself for rain! If you get wet, you will freeze before reaching the top and it was already getting chilly!
..But luckily, it took less than an hour to reach the mountain hut. And when we moved again that night, rain had stopped, no more clouds at that elevation, but instead very very strong wind was blowing!
The night view of the surrounding cities was amazing.
What's more amazing was the starry sky view! I've never seen stars as clear and as DENSE as that day. I was also lucky to see 2 shooting stars.

Hard times ~ SURVIVAL

I could not sleep well in the mountain hut..I think it was the same for everyone, so when we moved again I started to feel REALLY sleepy..which was REALLY dangerous..

Also as you move up, oxygen level gets low so it becomes hard to breath and you get tired and dizzy easily..luckily many members brought oxygen spray cans.. I think no body would have been able to go on without them. Personally I needed it tens of times.
We were literaly on a survival trip..
You really get dead tired.. so you stop by and relax there on the freezing ground in the raging wind..then you start to chill so you know you need to move to get warm eventhough you are dead tired...and so on..

Wind was getting stronger and stronger, and in each blow you get stinged in the face by the volcanic ashes it carries.
We also had to pass by many narrow and steep areas where one mistake would cost you your life.
Actually, It was scary to see some people condition getting bad along the way.. After we left the hut, I looked back at the distance we moved so far and looked up at the enormous remaining distance, I realised there was NO GO BACK.. You just have to move forward.
I was praying all the time to stay healthy at least until we reach the top since I was reaching my limits!

Amazing Reward ご来光

Thank God, everybody reached the top with no serious illness!
We were rewarded by the most beautiful scene I've ever seen in my life.
The view of the rising sun from the top of Fuji san in the country of the rising sun (T▽T)


People still arriving all with sleepy and tired faces
This is not the actual summit. There was still around 200 meters to the top, but this was a good point to stop and enjoy the rising sun.



Pro photographers getting ready!


Alright everyone, sit down and get ready!


Here it comes!! The very first "Piece" of sun




Thinking of this, weren't we the first people on the planet to see the sun of July 20th? (^_^)

On the way DOWN ~
REVIVAL

Everybody started to get better and got revived after the sun rise .. I really felt very good as we went down, eventhough it was really tough to walk the ash covered path down the mountain...but still easier than the way up.
I was really looking forward to feel the summer heat again!


The path down the mountain


Trying different angles


Going back to the cloud level. An interesting hole in the clouds

The after math

With all the hardships, risks and tough times we went through, I don't regret going in this trip for a second. I'm glad I decided to go and more glad that I came back safe to enjoy summer again! To tell the truth I was never such happy to hear the sounds of cicada again!
I SURVIVED and I am a much stronger person now!!(≧▽≦)

This post is brought to you by : K-chan(c)
All rights reserved!

See you next post! And don't forget to COMMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Torture of another type!

YaY! Finally I found some time to play after I almost killed myself preparing for the research progress presentation...
Anyway..we entered this sweets heaven-like shop. Everything looks so yummy, so sweet..
Enjoy the pictures!


All kinds of sweets and cookies!


Noodles too!


Any food you can think of!


Any sweets you dream of!


Some sweets-land locals..



But!!!..

...BUT!!...But!!!!....

Take a deep breathe!

.....but!

...it's all plastic!! XD


*Update 1: Where?
A famous street called kappabashidori (合羽橋通り) full of shops for selling plastic food and other restaurant essentials. It is located between Ueno and Asakusa stations.
Kappabashi on Wikipedia

*Update 2: Why plastic food?


There are 2 main reasons.

1) Almost all restaurants here have very realistic plastic models for the food they offer. They usually place these in a glass box on the entrance. So these plastic foods are mainly bought by restaurant owners.
This way, when u go to a restaurant, you can see how the dish would look like before you actually order it.

2) Some of these plastic foods have magnets on the back. You can use these as kitchen decorations..on the fridge for example.

See these google image search results:
Japan plastic food

Thursday, November 20, 2008

紅葉狩り!

Yesterday I went on an all alone adventure to Mt. Takao.
I have been carefully watching the 紅葉前線 since the start of this month. And yesterday was a perfect sunny day with the perfect timing to view momiji on Mt. Takao according to this page.
http://kouyou.nihon-kankou.or.jp/list/result.php?m=1&c=03&c2=13


Some appetetizers..continue reading~

Climbing the mountain was a little bit hard but a refreshing experience. I felt that I'm a stronger person after reaching the top.
There were a lot of trails to reach the top each with different features. I chose one randomly and started my way up.

The autumn colors were amazing, and the AMAZING 100% clear view of Mt. Fuji was the reward of reaching the top!

「富士山こんなにきれいに見えるなんて知らなかった」、隣の日本人さんはそう言ってた!

天日さん&富士山w Amani san and Fuji san

On the way down, I went from a different trail. It was really wonderful with a river flowing all the way down..BUT VERY DANGEROUS!..in some places one wrong step and bye bye~ enjoy a free fall..seriously.

..Another thing, in this trip I discovered a very nice side of Japanese people tht you rarely see in the busy daily life.
On your way up or down, most people that you encounter will greet you with a nice warm "konnichi wa"! It felt really nice.
I believe this "konnichi wa" holds alot inside.
"You and me are sharing the joy of watching this beatiful nature and are doing our best to reach the top, we are the same in this, so regardless where you came from, konnichi wa!:)"
This is how it meant to me.

I took more than 300 pictures! Will post the best here.
So I will leave the rest to the pictures!



























Hope you enjoyed this!
Alot of comments please!! :)

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

感動

IM WATCHING THIS NOW FROM THE TOP OF MT TAKAO.今度のポストおたのしみに!