Japan Trip Report (Kyoto, Tokyo, Mount Fuji, Hakone)

[swedishrasta]

Re: Japan Trip Reports

Lovely pics everyone...thank you so much for sharing. Would love to see more please! [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70409-waytogo.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70409-waytogo.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/notworthy.gif[/img]

[Kimberley24]

Re: Japan Trip Reports

Loving your report Tropi looking forward to the rest of pictures and your experience. Kingston and Evan post some more pics also....I have a couple friends who want to visit Japan for their 30th B-day....2 yrs time

[Serenity82]

Re: Japan Trip Report (Kyoto, Tokyo, Mount Fuji, Hakone)

OMG tropicana...thanks for these photos. I am sure you enjoyed. The photos are making me so want to go back though. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif[/img] wahhh [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cry.gif[/img]

[Serenity82]

Re: Japan - Kabuki

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: evanovitch</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
</div></div>

I avoided these toilets at all costs. arghh.

[Serenity82]

Re: Japan Trip Reports

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: evanovitch</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

check out di Japanese school girls in di bakgrung...dem di boys shorts r hilarious...mi trying to find one...dis was outside a hotel in Tokyo waiting fi go soundcheck </div></div>

Nice [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70371-jump.gif[/img]

[Serenity82]

Re: Japan Trip Reports

nice photos kingston! My gosh, one thing I will never forget is how narrow some of the streets were, boy do they need extra land.

[Serenity82]

Re: Japan Trip Reports

hmm, wondering if I should scan some photos myself. hmm.

[Serenity82]

Re: Japan Trip Reports

Tropicana, so what are you liking vs. disliking? Could you live in Japan?

[Q3210]

Re: Japan - Kabuki

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Serenity82</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: evanovitch</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
</div></div>

I avoided these toilets at all costs. arghh. </div></div>

Thats for a Sumi Wrestler to s_it on.

[Tropicana]

Re: Japan Trip Reports

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Serenity82</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Tropicana, so what are you liking vs. disliking? Could you live in Japan? </div></div>

On the whole though, I like the culture, I enjoyed what little I saw of the country. It's clean, well organized, the people are polite. I love the music, dance, food, art, parks, gardens, galleries....in other words the cultural life. Some of the men are to die for.

Yes I could definitely live there. One would have to be making an EXCELLENT income though because it's expensive but then so is Jamaica. The main thing I am not liking is the policy and procedures orientation and lack of flexibility at times. For example, if you are late for a tour in Jamaica, they will let you catch up with the tour at another point or use the voucher another day. In Japan, once you book a tour, that's it. Non-refundable, non-changeable. I mean it's good to be organized but there should be some flexibility. I guess our cultures are poloar opposites when it comes to things like punctuality.

I was chuckling when Kingson talked about his Jamaican experience being excellent preparation for the lack of towels in some of the public washrooms. I chuckled because touring around Jamaica certainly taught me to walk with tissue and an extra role of toilet paper when I travel to foreign shores. This has stood me in good stead in many places. I also slipped a small bottle of liquid soap into my purse as, in Japanese public washrooms, you can find everything from no soap or those automated soap dispensers that give you soap when you put your hands under them.

The special slippers in the toilet thing took a little bit of getting used to. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/704555_dwl.gif[/img] Respecting some of their taboos can be a problem. For example, if you have a cold or allergies, try not blowing your nose until you are in private...you have to sniffle to the point that you are uncomfortable. It will be tricky to navigate some of the etiquette. It's no less tricky than remember which hand to eat with when you travel through Muslim and Hindu countries. I am always forgetting and having to review.

Even a friend of a friend who is 100% Japanese (his parents were born there) has struggled with that since he went to live there. I spoke with him lately and he says that the etiquette has certainly become more relaxed in recent years but it is still tricky to navigate.

[Tropicana]

Re: Japan Trip Reports

Also the harakiri thing is disturbing. There were 2 high profile ones when I was there last week, one involving the Minister of Agriculture (hung himself) and the other a prominent executive (jumped off a building).

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Monday, 28 May 2007, 15:17 GMT 16:17 UK

Japanese minister kills himself

Toshikatsu Matsuoka was embroiled in a financial scandal
Japan's Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka has died in hospital after apparently committing suicide.
The 62-year-old was found hanged in his Tokyo apartment hours before he was to face questions in parliament over his links to a political funding scandal.

Opposition MPs had been calling for his resignation over unexplained expenses.

PM Shinzo Abe expressed regret over the news saying he was conscious of his "responsibility as prime minister, and as the one who appointed him".

"The effects on the cabinet will be great," Mr Abe added as he went to attend a wake for the deceased minister late on Monday.

Mr Matsuoka was found unconscious in his flat around lunchtime on Monday. Efforts to resuscitate him at hospital failed.

Police said he had hanged himself, but refused to comment on reports in the Japanese press that he had left a number of suicide notes in his apartment.

It is the first time a Japanese cabinet minister has killed himself since World War II, when the army minister committed suicide on news of Japan's surrender.

Funding questions

Mr Matsuoka was embroiled in two political scandals, though he denied any wrong-doing.

He had allegedly claimed more than 28m yen ($236,600; £118,300) in utility fees at his parliamentary office, where utility costs are free.

It was also alleged that he had received electoral campaign donations from a businessman linked to a bid-rigging scandal.

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Source

This is the suicide that took place the day after the Minister of Agriculture commited suicide:

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Ex-executive of scandal-hit Japanese company falls to his death
09:26 | 29/ 05/ 2007



TOKYO, May 29 (RIA Novosti) - A former executive of a Japanese company involved in a bid-rigging scandal fell to his death in the parking lot outside his flat in an apparent suicide early Tuesday morning.

The death of Shinichi Yamazaki, 76, an executive director of the Japan Green Resources Agency (J-Green) before it became a public company, comes one day after the suicide of the country's agriculture minister, who had come under intense pressure over political donations received from J-Green, along with other companies.

Japan's National Police Agency said Yamazaki is believed to have jumped to his death from his flat on the sixth floor of the building. Japanese news agency Kyodo said the former executive director was found in his pajamas, bleeding from the head, and that his shoes had been left on the stairs of the sixth floor.

Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka, 62, hanged himself on Monday amid a series of party funding scandals, and had written six farewell notes to political associates, including to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The minister's death came just hours before his scheduled interview with a parliamentary committee probing his role in the bid-rigging scandal.

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Source



How long did you live in Japan Serenity? What did you like? Dislike? What tips can you provide about living there? You too Kingston, Evanovitch? Also what tips can you give about doing business there? Wahalla too. You have some experience that seems to have been unpleasant so I am sure you have some lessons to pass on.

[Tropicana]

Re: Japan Trip Reports

I just thought of a humourous Japan/Jamaica connection. I was in Japan last week when Miss Japan was crowned Miss Universe:


I heard people criticizing her saying that she was not Japanese enough and looked more like a White American girl. Reminded me of some of the controversy that takes place in Jamaica after with some of the Miss Jamaica selections.

[img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/704555_dwl.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

Perhaps this was part of the reason for the criticism:

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Mori-san also graduated from High School in Canada, so that may also have something to do with her confidence, height (more calcium in that Canadian cheese?), and modern looks.</div></div>

Source

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Miss Universe 2007: Riyo Mori, Japanese beauty with Canadian roots


20 year-old Riyo Mori was crowned the winner of Miss Universe 2007 Monday; the Japanese beauty built solid roots in Canada where she lived and studied for years.

Riyo Mori came to Canada in 2003 on a home-stay arrangement. She graduated from Centennial secondary school in Belleville, Ont., in 2005; she is also a former student at the Quinte Ballet School.

"She's a very intelligent lady, that came out right away," her Canadian hosts told the Canadian newspaper Victoria Times Colonist. "She knew what she wanted and she's beautiful."

The newly elected Miss Universe, who hopes to one day open an international dance school, is remembered as a determined young woman. "She's a very intelligent lady -- that came out right away," her hosts told the Times Colonist. "She knew what she wanted and she's beautiful."

Riyo Mori is the second Japanese woman to win the title of Miss Universe; in 1959 Akiko Kojima became the first Miss Universe from Japan from Asia.


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Soource

I have heard Miss Jamaica's criticized who went to school in Canada (example: Cornelia Parchment. I remember reading in The Gleaner that the other contestants were very cool to her after her win.)

[Tropicana]

Re: Japan Trip Reports

I hope that this is not too wide for the screen. The Japanese taxis and rental cars have GPS's that talk to you ...in Japanese of course and give you detailed directions of where to travel to get to your destination:



The other thing that I found cool were the talking parking pay stations. I wish I could find a photo of one. They talk to you in Japanese and give you detailed instructions on how to use the machine. It's a very polite female voice and she thanks you for paying [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

Some of the JR buses have an automated female voice that welcomes you to the bus and let's you know where the bus is going "Kono bussu wa...." [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

The JR trains and shinkansen's are very user friendly. In English and Japanese they let you know the line on which you are travelling, and the next stops, using cool animations and scrolling text (in the case of the Shinkansen). I should have taken pictures of all of these things. I thought it wouldn't have been very polite but next time. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

[Tropicana]

Re: Japan Trip Reports

Here is a great video clip of one of the areas in which I spent a lot of time:

http://www.geobeats.com/videoclips/japan/tokyo/ginza

I hardly saw any foreigners while I was there (other than the second time I went to Kabuki and when I went to catch the bus back to the airport my 2nd time there).

[Serenity82]

Re: Japan Trip Reports

My dear they have a shoe for every room. The bathroom slippers, bedroom slippers, kitchen slippers, patio slippers, backyard slippers...arghh!