Kawagoe-City

Since we've spent the majority of our time in Japan with my folks in Kawagoe, we've seen many of the sights around here.

Also known as Ko-Edo (Little Edo... or Little Tokyo), Kawagoe has quite a number of tourist attractions... very important ones as my dad keeps telling me. His involvement with a Non-Profit Organization that preserves the beauty of Kawagoe has nothing to do with it, he tells me. .. Kawagoe wa SUGOI! (Kawagoe is great!)

In a 5 min. walk from my parents place is arguably the most historically important building in Kawagoe, Kitain Temple... founded in 805 A.D. Yeah... a few years before the U.S. was a country... known for it's 500 Buddhas... click on the pic for a sample.


Some more info here...
http://www.kawagoe.com/kitain/english/index.html

With such a long history, any visitor will find that Japan is full of landmarks. In culturally rich places that weren't destroyed by the war, some sort of a historic landmark on every turn. On our visit to Nikko a few days ago, we felt like we were in the Louvre Museum. Too much to see on on every corner of every block on a building had some significance... but I'm getting ahead of myself now.

There are numerous shrines here, as well as budhist temples.

In addition to the rich history here, there is a TV drama called "Tsubasa" or "Wings" that is shot here... and appearently it's pretty popular? We see posters for the show everywhere...


Kawagoe is also know for it's sweet potato (with numerous stores selling purple potato ice cream, bread, donut, any other sweets) and unagi (much to Kimbo's delight).

Now... I've gotta get out of here, as my mom just turned on the Smooth Jazz AccuRadio station, and KennyG is blasting away...

images from wikipedia

Engrish...

For a country with the most advanced mass transit system in the world... where buses, trains, etc. always come on time... and leave on the exact second... there are some bad translations... I'm beginning to think there is one person making all these translations, and screwing them up in a funny way on purpose.


...check out these sites.
http://www.engrish.com/
http://www.jun-gifts.com/others/japanglish/japanglish.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engrish
http://www.qsl.net/ah6hy/japlish.html

Oh... there are countless T-shirts with some priceless Engrish on them.






what?!


... danger signs fight back?


Here's my favorite.


...


... and the honorable mention.

whoa.

Nice egh? Lot's of interesting bikes over here...

Hi Tech Sushi...

There are plenty of sushi restaurants in the US, but nothing like this... yet.

First... you wash your hands... with soap OR Alcohol...


Then you go and get your number from the automatic teller... you can either sit at the counter or a table...

We chose the table... this restaurant has two rows of tables with sushi that ROlls by... hence Sushi-Ro... it's name.


At the table, you can pour yourself some powdered green tea... (that's a hot water tap attached to the counter).


...comes with instructions.


Although you can see a plethora of sushi rolling by, you can look at what they have...


Push this button (an intercom) and order what you like. Your table is associated with a color, and the sushi will eventually come by set on a plate of that color.





Kimbo ready to Roll. Note her favorite roll infront (natto!)


They have plenty of traditional dishes... like Uni


Squid


Salmon


But plenty of wierd ones... like this Eel Sandwich... btw I'm sure there are traditionalists who loath these kinds of establishments that serve all kinds of non-traditional sushi. There were quite a few that caught my eye.


Duck with Onion...


Wasabi Eggplant (pickled)


Pork w/Green Onion


Corn?


Beef


Meatball... YUP Meatball...


Shrimp Cocktail?


... and desert... Japanese-style Pannacotta.


Grape Jelly?


Chocolate Banana Roll


Tiramisu


Kimbo showing her love of Uni (sea urchin)


... anyway... we thoroughly enjoyed eating and eating and eating while being entertained. I'd highly recommend foreigners who don't really know what they would be ordering to go to such places so you can see exactly what you are eating...

Japanese Toilets...

First thing first... (what does that mean anyway?) right? You gotta know how to go to the bathrooms... in the restaurants, train stations, etc...

Here's the old fashion kind... and how to use it.


And the hi-tech version...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilets_in_Japan#Basic_features

Yup, not only can you have a heated seat, you can control the temp of the water of the bidet, the strength, and the amplitude.... but they do cost a few hundred dollars.


When we visited my dad's friend up in Karuizawa (The only city to have hosted events in the Winter and the Summer olympics)... he had a toilet that automatically flushed after you stood up, and even had a button or you could use the remote (the Japanese love remotes) to raise the seat for when males had to pee.



Though... still haven't seen one with the SD slot yet.

Culture Shock!

Japan...

Yup, my country of origin is always shocking. Especially coming from 5 months in Australia and New Zealand.

I think we saw more people in the 20 min. sitting at the starbucks with Tsuji than we had in the last 5 months combined. I had to refocus my attention to all the lights, people, signs, and strange characters everywhere... quite the transition from the coral, giant clams, fish, and turtles. Tokyo is mentally taxing... our minds felt like we just got thrown into a Hanna Montana concert... no violence, but overwhelming.

Seriously...

We found nemo!

After a short drive from Mission Beach, we made it to Cairns... the so-called backpacker capital of OZ... and there are plenty of backpacker options here...This one is named after a nice van we left in NZ.


Oh, and Kate put up a shopping mall... (she was bored)


We soon found a live-aboard diving operation we liked and went over to the office to book. The fluffy, lazy cat likes the printer there...


We went with Reef Experience... they have a boat that goes out to the reef every morning and back in the afternoon, while Reef Encounter stayed out at the reef, only moving from reef to reef.


Here we are about to be transferred boats...


Here's Reef Encounter... our home for the next 3 days... unfortunately they wouldn't let us jump off the top.


During the course of the next 3 days, we lived in the ocean... I did 12 dives (2 night dives) and snorkeled 4 times... and to be honest... it was great. I hadn't dove for a while, so it was a great feeling to be under again. However, I'd say half the sites were better for snorkeling. There were some great dives, don't get me wrong, but there were many sites that you probably saw more snorkeling... and I was diving just to dive.


Off to do my first dive in like 8 years...





It was a great thing that we went snorkeling in the Whitsundays before coming here... as we saw a LOT more fishies, turtles, coral, etc...


I think we saw 6? or more... no matter how many you see, they're still amazing.


A coral with bite marks from parrotfish.


Freddy... he's a Maori Wrasse that hangs out whenever the Reef Encounter is anchored at the Fraser Reef, and loves to be petted.




Saw lots of sharks, but they are difficult to take pics of as they usually take off... that is unless the cook is feeding them.









... this morning made waking up early for the 6 am snorkel/dive session well worth it.








Look... and here he is NEMO! Officially a clown anemonefish


And a video of the little guy.


Some of the other fishies...


A pufferfish getting cleaned by a cleaner wrasse... these guys are great... some of them start pecking at your body if you go to one of their "cleaning stations."




Giant Clam... they close up when you touch them..


And my favorite reef... in the shape of a fish


Here's Kate diving for the first time...

Turtle!


Giant Clam...


After getting off the boat we had our last dinner with Katie, and went to bed still rocking. The next day, we headed off to Japan.