"I never realized what a wonderful people the Japanese are until I saw their most interesting exhibit. Japan must indeed be a paradise for children to judge from the great number of playthings which are manufactured there."-Helen Keller
It was really amazing how this Japan trip even worked out. There were various complications with reservations, timing, and finances, but everything fell into place. My trip begins in Osaka.
Wikipedia said that Kansai International Airport had the longest terminal in the whole world. I didn't know what that meant until I found out that I had to take this short shuttle just to get to immigration and baggage claim. It was actually the first time I ever made it out before anyone else, so I ended up in this shuttle all by myself.
I actually got to my destination much sooner than expected, so I decided to check out a bathroom in a random hotel. Just about every public restroom had bidets (including McDonalds). I love these things!
Japan's subway system is much more complicated than Korea's, so 종성 and I had to look at many maps and ask various people for help. There are a lot more advertisements in the cars. Quieter. No pushing.
Our first meal. Best 돈까스 and 우동 I've ever had in my life.
Our first tourism spot was Osaka Castle, which is located in the middle of a park. Check out these soju bottle trees.
여의도 seriously has nothing on Japan. The cherry blossoms were seriously everywhere.
It's traditional for Japanese people to have picnics under these trees and play games.
Overrated castle.
Karoake is supposedly big in Japan, but I feel like I didn't see as many as Korea.
Sleeping/Relaxing room. We need these!
Pachinko rooms everywhere in Japan.
Really noisy and colorful.
I saw lots of buildings with cool designs.
Vending machines everywhere.
Namba. Downtown Osaka.
Okinomiyaki is famous in Osaka, so we had it for dinner. Quite delicious.
Saw Yoshinoyas everywhere. I forgot this even existed. For some reason, all of them were always packed!
Went to the 용산 of Osaka. Saw lots of cool stuff.
I was taking a bunch of pictures but failed to notice any of the "Do not take photographs" signs. A lot of stores had these.
The place that we stayed at was awesome!
As you can see, our shower even had a TV.
Here's our tour guide who did 99% of the research and talking to Japanese people. This trip would not have been possible without 종성.
We were particularly happy that the four other strangers who were supposed to share the room with us did not come.
We were impressed with this efficient sink toilet thing that turned on whenever you flushed.
I had heard about the sexual harrassment on trains but didn't see anyone utilizing the special trains/hours.
After Osaka, we went to Kyoto. We even got to experience riding the buses in Japan. You enter from the back and pay as you exit.
It got pretty packed at times.
Here is the first of many temples/places/shrines that we went to.
Beautiful day with beautiful flowers.
We flattered these middle school students by asking them to take a picture with us.
We tried a sample of the cherry blossom chocolate on the right. It really tastes the way it smells!
Lots of bicycles throughout Japan.
More cool buildings.
Machine that told when the next buses were coming.
Soba.
Different kind of soba.
This was probably the highlight of our trip. "The Road of Philosophy."
Like I said, 여의도 has nothing on Japan.
Kyoto was absolutely beautiful. We both liked this place so much more than Osaka or Tokyo.
Potatornado.
Cherry blossom mochi.
Expensive yet worth every yen.
More cool places.
We saw lots of cool and expensive houses in the area.
We were surprised to see so many women who still wore kimonos today. Every time we found someone wearing one, we'd ask them to take a picture with us. These were the prettiest ones we could find.
Just in case, you know?
There were lots of temples where people prayed and paid for them to come true.
Look at all them prayer requests.
These were made in a different form.
I found this one to be particularly funny.
More cool houses.
Crazy looking tree.
Random festival inside a park.
This place reminded of Japantown in SF.
Lots of traditional drinking places called izakayas.
Lots of people.
This geisha was getting attention like she was a Hollywood star.
One of my goals for this trip was to eat real Japanese sashimi. When the menu said 8 pcs of various sashimi, I was expecting more than two of each...cause I kinda paid for the most expensive thing on the menu. Of course, it was the best sashimi I've ever had, but my wallet didn't think so.
Pork omelet.
So we finally arrived in Tokyo. We constantly looked at these maps everywhere we went.
This was the folder that 종성 was holding throughout the trip. I had to explain to him why PreMedical School should never be abbreviated.
It was amazing to see McDonalds completely packed at 6AM. It was even more interesting to see that they had a smoking area.
One of the workers told me I wasn't allowed to take photos, so that was our cue to leave.
Uemo Park.
Another shrine for praying.
This encourages people to come and pray to get admitted into Tokyo University.
Korea's best meets Japan's best.
Nice campus.
Nice facilities.
종성 was curious about their dining halls, so we found one and tested out the food.
It was great!
We found a random church.
Famous shrine. I forget the name, but it was really beautiful.
More people headed for hell.
So we saw these guys sweeping the ground. We later found out that they were getting it ready for some important people to come. The wait took over 30 minutes, but it was worth it.
Cause those important people were professional SUMOS!
From all over the world with all different shapes and sizes.
How do you like them apples?
We even got to take a picture with one of them. It was scary asking him, but he seemed pretty nonchalant about it.
In Tokyo, people walk and drive on the left side.
More parks with cherry blossoms.
This is Akihabara, the Tokyo Electronics Market.
This place had SO MUCH anime. I believe it was eight floors of toys, games, dvds, and manga. I didn't feel human in there.
Sorry. No pictures allowed again.
We saw all kinds of weird stuff.
We were too overwhelmed by everything, so we left.
Ameyayokocho.
Again lots of people.
Momo, I found your store!
We climbed mountains just to find this restaurant since our guide book recommended it to us.
Great bargain for Japanese prices but nothing special.
Went to 40 something floor of the city hall building and got an awesome night view of the city.
Shinjuku. I think it's like the 강남 of Tokyo.
I didn't know that Lotte was from Japan. Their Lotteria food looks so much better than ours.
I feel like this picture is a good representative of the craziness of the city.
Our second place was a piece of crap. We were supposed to share this traditional style room with four other guys. In the end, we paid extra and got our own room.
We went back to Akihabara to kill some time. This was the coolest pen I saw in Japan. Super nice point but erasable with a rubber tip!
Another one of my goals was to have real Japanese ramen.
I made a list of four or five different ramen houses to eat at, but we failed to find a single one. Fortunately, we found this interesting Kyushu style place. Lots of places have you pick your food with a vending machine that pops out a ticket.
The small, medium, and large were all the same price. So, of course, we each got a large.
It was probably the most ramen I've ever had in my life.
Especially since I ended up finishing 종성's too.
Found some awesome gadgets.
Robots.
I think I saw something like this in
Back to the Future II!
This department store was on the other side of the subway, but we found it to have so many amazing things.
Anime puzzles.
High-tech arcades that involve playing cards.
Lots of toys.
I was looking for Japanese 화투 everywhere. When I finally found a pack, it was 10x more expensive than our Korean ones. So I put it back on the rack and took this picture instead.
This was truly the craziest toy store I'd ever seen in my life.
Street Fighter IV looks crazy.
Automatic vacuum cleaners.
Controllable room lighting.
Most amazing massage chair I've ever sat in.
The train ride to Odaiba was an awesome way to get a great view all around Tokyo.
It was particularly sunny this day.
Crazy looking playground.
Just to give you an idea of how big this thing was, look how small those people look.
Got to see a car exhibition.
The future of cars.
New IS.
New GS.
Biggest carousel I've ever seen.
This was one crazy arcade.
Animated slot machines. After this, I was once again asked to not take anymore pictures. Geez! I didn't even get to take pictures of the Mario Kart 2 machine.
Fuji TV.
"go to that one place that has the wannabe statue of liberty."
-Dinko
There was this one restaurant that had every style ramen or something. But after our gigantic bowls the other day, neither of us were in the mood for more noodles.
So we tried this new thing called a doria.
It was like eating mac n' cheese with rice.
Goodbye, Odaiba.
Hello, Harajuku. This is like the 홍대 of Tokyo.
종성 had never had a crepe before, so I treated him to his first one.
Doesn't 홍대 have something like this too?
So we were shocked and disappointed to find out that people don't really hang out on Saturday night. Everything was closed and people were going home at 10.
Notice an ongoing theme here?
Our last day in Tokyo was Sunday. As we were looking for Tokyo Baptist Church, Japan's largest evangelical church, we happened to find a reformed church on the way!
We briefly stepped inside just to check it out.
We had our service here, but I regret not staying with the reformed church and seeing the Japanese service.
We then headed to Roppongi, which is like the 압구정 of Tokyo. Yeah, this picture really doesn't represent the place too well.
Hot soba.
Cold soba.
I literally saw three Ferraris on the same day. All red.
This was the only advertisement I saw of 참이슬. So small.
We were supposedly in the tallest building in Japan, but it didn't feel like it. We actually followed some guys into the 33rd floor without realizing that it was only for authorized personnel. Fortunately, we got another awesome view of the city for free as opposed to the 45th floor that cost 5,000 yen or something.
Fujifilm (left). Konami (right).
Shibuya. 신촌 of Tokyo.
I'm sure you recognize this area from a lot of movie scenes whenever they show the crazy crowds walked in all directions at once. It was quite a site.
We went back to Harajuku to redeem ourselves and stumbled upon a bodybuilding show.
After I took this picture, all these other tourists started taking pictures of them too. Haha.
Now that's more like it.
I had a nice chuckle by myself.
One of 종성's goals for this trip was to eat real Takoyaki.
He liked it a lot more than I did.
We had discovered this one cheap meat place near the hostel we were staying at. Turns out it was freakin' Korean food. Anyway, it was the cheapest 갈비 I've ever had to pay for. Our only 반찬 was 김 though.
As neither of us were satisfied, we decided to finish our last night with some ramen. We still didn't find any of the places on my list but stumbled upon this place.
Many Japanese people told me I couldn't take pictures, but the old man working here was the only one who offered to take a picture of us.
We had two night bus rides where our sleep was uncomfortable and erratic. Here is 종성 getting ready for one final ride.
Back in Osaka, I found the coolest sink.
For breakfast, we had bento boxes as it was the cheapest and quickest way to go.
These are all the free tissues that I collected from the many people passing them out on the streets. This ends my 5 days 5 nights trip.
Valuable things to take away from Japan:
1. I am so thankful for Korea's subway system.
2. Japan is the cleanest country with no garbage cans to be found!
3. Them girls are beautiful but still three steps behind Korea.
4. Japanese people are indeed very very nice.
5. Japanese everything is indeed very very expensive.
6. Japanese food is too salty and/or sweet with little or no vegetables.
7. Them Japanese like to color their hair.
8. Didn't see a single picture of Mao Asada anywhere. However, saw a bunch of Ichiro beer advertisements.
9. Goku was nowhere to be found...that coward.
10. I am glad that I am Korean!
Thought of the Day:
Flannery O'ConnorSong of the Day: Hamasaki Ayumi-RED LINE ~for TA~
I tried to avoid learning 한자 for the longest time. My dad bought me a beginners book about three years ago that collected lots of dust. Some time last year, I decided maybe learning some of the root sounds would be helpful to understanding Korean words. But after joining our church's Saturday Korean class, the teacher decided to add in 한자 and Korean proverbs. Although we're not required to know how to write the characters, I really felt that writing them would really help me to recognize and learn them properly and effectively. So I decided to bust out the book that my dad had gotten for me and started practicing my characters. 
