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ReluctantGaijin - Kumaran Perinpanathan

This blog chronicles my trip to Japan with my friends: Riddhi, Kunal and Simon. I was initially very reluctant to go on this trip (hence the title of this blog): although I've always wanted to go to Japan, I knew very little about Japanese culture and, more importantly, I knew nothing about the Japanese language. Thankfully, my desire to visit Japan triumphed over my doubts (for the most part).

I'll be updating this blog as often as I can, which should mean daily. I have a notebook, allowing me to make short-hand notes during the day, which I can type up in evening before going out. This should streamline the process: making blogging daily a fairly painless. Let's hope I can keep blogging for the entire trip (17 days)! I'll try to upload photos daily and if that doesn't work out, then I'll just upload them all onto facebook when I come back.

Let's hope this is a fun trip.

Japan
July 9th 2009 -» July 26th 2009

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Joined on: July 7th 2009
Last Login: September 15th 2009

Blog Entries: 18
Photos: 153

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by ReluctantGaijin, order by Date newest first.

By ReluctantGaijin
July 26th 2009

Day Seventeen: Leaving Japan Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Ealing

The view from the motorway

Reluctantly, I dragged myself out of bed at 6:00 AM and eventually got down to the lobby at 7:10 AM to check out. We took the airport limousine bus (which stopped at our hotel) to Narita at 7:30AM. There was virtually no traffic on the roads, which meant that we arrived at the North wing of Terminal One at 9:00AM. Check-in took over an hour whilst security and customs took around ten minutes. Before we left, the guys grabbed some McDonalds, which they ate whilst queuing for boarding at the departure gate. The flight took a little over twelve hours but [View Full Entry]

By ReluctantGaijin
July 25th 2009

Day Sixteen: Simon's Birthday Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Shinjuku

A very cool Skyline
We saw quite a few Skylines in Tokyo, but none were as cool as this one.

Me and Riddhi had breakfast delivered to our room today. We both ordered the Continental breakfast, which cost 2300 yen (aproximately £15) and contained four pieces of bread, a hot drink (I chose Earl Grey) and fruit juice (orange juice in my case). Feeling slightly ripped off, I phoned Simon to wish him a happy birthday and then proceeded to get ready for the day. We left the hotel around 11:00 AM and took a taxi to Chiyoda. We arrived, half an hour later, at the Marounchi Building: which was a short walk away from the Imperial Palace. We headed to [View Full Entry]

By ReluctantGaijin
July 24th 2009

Day Fifteen: Tama Asia » Japan » Tokyo

It's official: Tama is Hello Kitty's town

Leaving the hotel at 11:00AM, we headed off to Tama: a distant suburb of Tokyo and the self-proclaimed home of Hello Kitty. If I could describe Tama in one word it would be “Hell”. The whole town seemed to have been infected by Hello Kitty. We ended up visiting Hello Kitty Land, an indoor theme park dedicated to Hello Kitty. It was very small and very expensive (entry cost 4400 yen, about £30). I was incredibly reluctant to go (to say the least): I felt creeped out by the whole thing. I was so relieved when we left after two hours: [View Full Entry]

By ReluctantGaijin
July 23rd 2009

Day Fourteen: Leaving Kyoto Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Shinjuku

The room

I had an early start this morning, waking up at 7:00 AM. Everything up until 9:00 AM, when I met Simon and the rest, seemed like a blur: I only vaguely remember packing the last remaining items away and checking out of the hostel. Arriving at Kyoto station earlier than planned, I headed off to the Ryokan, to see if anyone needed any help packing. I learnt from Simon and Kunal that Riddhi still hadn't posted the bike back to London. It was then that I knew this day wouldn't go smoothly. The bike was fairly large for a fold-up bike: [View Full Entry]

By ReluctantGaijin
July 22nd 2009

Day Thirteen: Eastern Kyoto Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto

Kiyomizu-dera
A very popular Shinto temple located in the Eastern Hills of Kyoto

After a good night's sleep and a rather quick breakfast, we hailed a cab to Kiyomizu-dera: a Shinto temple on the outskirts of Kyoto, which, as well as being very pleasing on the eye, has some fantastic views of Kyoto. Drawing ourselves away from the temple was difficult but after some quick souvenir shopping, we went off to explore the local area. We walked along the Three Year and Two Year slopes, which contain many buildings from Kyoto's past, before getting sick of walking and hailing a taxis to our next destination: Nanzen-ji, a temple located near the start of the [View Full Entry]

By ReluctantGaijin
July 21st 2009

Day Twelve: Nagoya Asia » Japan » Aichi » Nagoya

Breakfast
What a great way to start my day.

Nagoya, Japan's forth largest city (known for its focus on commerce), loomed ahead of us after 50 minutes of travelling. Inside of the Shinkansen we were oblivious to the rain as the train sped past the skyscrapers and highways of Nagoya. As we stepped out of Nagoya station (itself a massive skyscaper), my stomach spasmed, probably reacting to having a Calorie-Mate block (essentially a meal in a box) for breakfast. Calorie-mate didn't seem too bad when I ate it: it was essentially just four 100kcal biscuits but my stomach seemed to disagree. Walking away the station, we spent sometime get [View Full Entry]

By ReluctantGaijin
July 20th 2009

Day Eleven: Nara Asia » Japan » Nara » Nara

Nara (as seen from the station entrance)

I woke up at 8:00 PM and after half an hour of stumbling around and getting changed, I finally left the hostel. As I walked past the Station to the Ryokan, I met Riddhi who said he was off to Hiroshima for a couple of days, to meet a friend of his. Surprised, I wished him well in his endeavour and headed off to the hostel, wondering whether I'd see him alive again. I met Simon and Kunal at the Ryokan and we headed off for breakfast. Simon and Kunal both said they had been surprised by Riddhi's decision: there [View Full Entry]

A statue of one of the Buddha's followers

By ReluctantGaijin
July 19th 2009

Day Ten: Osaka Asia » Japan » Osaka » Osaka

The shinkansen
Punctual as ever.

After waking up at 8:30 AM, I headed down to reception where I met Simon and Kunal, who were checking out of the hostel. We ended up wondering around the area surrounding the hostel, searching for a shop that sold bikes (Simon was now obsessed with getting a fold up bike) and a wi-fi spot (Kunal needed to make a skype call). Finding neither we returned to their hotel to chill whilst waiting for Riddhi to get up, which he did. Eventually. We soon ended up a coffee shop, washing down rather thick slices of toast and egg with large amounts [View Full Entry]

By ReluctantGaijin
July 18th 2009

Day Nine: Central Kyoto Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto

The entrance to Nijo Castle

I got up at 8:40 AM and after a gargantuan buffet breakfast at the hostel I walked over to the station to meet the guys. They met me at 10:15 AM as Riddhi thought I said to meet at 10:30AM. They hadn't had breakfast so we went to a local café in the shopping centre under the station. The café served fairly weird dishes: Simon, for example, had chicken with Doritos and beer and Kunal had a parfait topped with edible gold foil. Taking the subway, which was just as efficient as Tokyo's, we arrived at Nijo castle at around 11AM. [View Full Entry]

By ReluctantGaijin
July 17th 2009

Day Eight: Leaving Tokyo Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto

Ads in Japan are really scary

We got up at 8:00AM, ready for a long day. After some last minute packing, we checked out of the Tobu at 10:00AM and took a taxi to Asakusabashi, to check out of the hostel. This didn't take too long, so we soon wound up at the local Yoshinoya, where we had our first meal in Tokyo, having an austere but filling breakfast. We then hailed two taxis to Tokyo station (we couldn't use the subway as it was illegal to take luggage on board, something we only discovered after we arrived in Tokyo). After about 20 minutes of sitting in [View Full Entry]

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