Blogs from Sakae, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Asia
March 16th 2012
I started writing this a few days ago but have been super busy so not had a chance to finish it. But here you go. We arrived in Tokyo without any problems, and won at working out the train timetables. Because we gave ourselves plenty of time for getting lost and missing trains, we arrived in Nagoya about 4 or 5 hours earlier than necessary, and spent some time wandering around near Nagoya station. It's not a particularly interesting place, but we did meet a sleepy Japanese man who showed us how to properly address a shrine before heading off to check into Hostel Ann, a nice wee place whose only fault is the only one shower for 24 guests. The highlight of the trip so far (and let's face it, probably the next 6 months) ... read more
November 2nd 2011
The train from Osaka to Nagoya only took a little over an hour, but this time I expected the short commute. Nagoya station, where I arrived, reminded me in many ways of Osaka station, and may have been even bigger. It took a few minutes to walk outside of the station where I was greeted by a pair of twin towers and a twist tower. My time was running out in Japan, but I still wanted to explore Nagoya at least a little to get a feel for the city. I had also been in contact with a friend of a friend, Ben, who lived in Yokohama, a city just outside of Tokyo. Ben graciously offered me a place to stay and to show me around Yokohama. That meant I could spend one full day in ... read more
December 8th 2010
We arrived in Nagoya and took the train to our hotel. I found out very quickly that many Japanese really did not speak much English. They were exceedingly polite and usually became very flustered when they could not help me with my request just because they do not understand me. I felt incredibly bad. Subway rides are expensive! About 230yen per one way ride. We found out too late that we could actually purchase one day subway passes for 760yen and felt like kicking ourselves after. We arrived at the hotel and was told that we were at the wrong one. Apparently there are two hotels with similar names and it was obviously a common occurrence for tourists to end up at the one we ended up because the receptionist very quickly whipped out a map ... read more
January 4th 2009
Greetings and Hello. Its been 50 years since I have updated this. BUT I am back at it. I have tons of pictures. However, to save my sanity I will only post a few. So as many of you may have heard back at home. I am out here for an extended period of time. That being the case I have moved into an apartment. So I will post pictures of what my fine apartment looks like. Also I will throw in some pictures from Nikko. It is a wonderful place north of Tokyo near Utsunomiya. I was with some of my Japanese co-workers and they showed me around. It was a wonderful and cold trip. So with that being said, here are some pictures. Oh I will post a concert photo or two as well. ... read more
Nagoya - Friendly friendly friendly
Published: October 10th 2008Asia » Japan » Aichi » Nagoya » Sakae
October 9th 2008
Well I can honestly say that Nagoya is probably going to be the highlight of my entire trip. Yoriko-san and I traveled to the Inuyama area, about 1.5 hours by train. After arriving there we grabbed lunch and checked out the Shinto Shrine there, Atsusa Jinja. It's a very important Shinto Shrine, dating back to the 3rd century I think. Back in ancient times this would be a destination for people on a spiritual journey. After that had some traditional Japanese sweets at a nice little traditionally styled area, then headed back. That evening went to an aussie bar, nice quiet little place. Ran into a guy that is doing a documentary for the Discovery Channel for a really cool production of Romeo and Juliet.. this production has been years in the making as Romeo is ... read more
October 7th 2008
Ok so... things are rather weird here.. this is my first chance to actually sit down and just relax since arriving here. Yesturday Im on my way to where Im staying, a small Ryokan. I generally knew where I was going, but all of a sudden this business man walks up and asks where Im going in English. I show him the map Im using and he looks at it, and instead of pointing which way to go like usual, he motions me to follow him. After he asks a few people, including one guy looking up the directions on his cars GPS, we arrive at my Ryokan. He got their phone number and called ahead / explained who I was in Japanese to the owners. Turns out while talking to him he has a daughter ... read more
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
Published: September 14th 2008Asia » Japan » Aichi » Nagoya » Sakae
September 14th 2008
So really this event took place a month ago now it seems. Everytime I get on the computer I get distracted and do something else and never end up updating this wonderful blog. I am sorry to all my ex loyal readers who have moved on to Greener more updated pastures. Any way I have about 3 or so major updates. I will put them out this week. This one is the first and it is about my quest. The title of this entry comes from the poem that Stephen King's Dark Tower series was based off of. I picked it because I went to Tokyo over Obon week to find my Dark Tower. So if you are a fan of the Iron Chef show you will know who the best Iron Chef was. Iron Chef ... read more
August 13th 2008
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I have been lazy and have put off publishing more of my AMAZING adventures that thrill everyone soo much. First let me start by saying this past weekend I had some AWESOME mexican food this weekend compliments of a new friend who works at a different site. She has a house and invited me over to help cook. Man it was delicious. Any way so in my down time I have made it to a beach, back to Nara and went to see fishing. First off the beach I went to was in Obama, it was Wada beach in Wakusa. Wada beach was VERY nice. There were a small chain of little rocks you could row out to and swim. There were little waves and the water went from shallow to deep gradually. So I ... read more
July 29th 2008
I AM BACK!! So After my first week back I have my first update. This past weekend a few coworkers and I decided to go try the beach near work. You would never guess by work that there is a nice beach nearby. Since our beach trip went so well we decided to try another adventure on sunday. We jumped on a train and headed south along the coast. Our goal was to head inland to get to a grouping of waterfalls. The place is near Iga just south east of Nara. We had to make an exchange but we seemed to figure it out pretty well. Once we got to the train station we started our walk. I had heard that once you get to the station you just walk and its all nice. However, ... read more
July 8th 2008
So friends, time for one last update before I take off this Friday to go vacation in St Louis. WOOOHOOOOO vacation back home. Well this is a special update, probably the best one yet in my mind. I had planned to get this out last week and suprise everyone with a double update in one week. However, sleep, and exploring got in the way. Either way here we go. This update is special because it showcases two great nights. The first night I was able to go to dinner with my fellow co-workers both American and Japanese. This was real fun. We picked a place to eat close to work and a big group of us went. The Japenese co-workers that showed up were all from Utsenomia which is closer to Tokyo than Nagoya. They get ... read more
