diamondlife

I made it back OK! Got back to the UK about 5.30, had to wait quite a while for bags to be unloaded but I used the time to call my mum, got met by davechan, spent some time going up and down in a lift we didn't even need to go in before getting on a tube train that only went about 6 stops, changed to one that went all the way to St Pancras, drank some hot chocolate (it's impossible to get real hot chocolate in Japan! @_@ 飲みたかった！) and slept on the train. Got back to the house just before 11pm - ie, 7am Japan time! e_e Was reunited with all housemates except the one who's in Iceland, then luckily fell over about midnight and slept for a good 9 hours, so hopefully should be able to get right back on schedule, without going into a weird personal timezone like I did when I came back from America! XD

I have a letter from the uni saying my course starts on the 26th of September, so now I've got plenty of time to relax and get stuff sorted out and reacclimatise! Sooooo much stuff to do. @_@ Probably won't take me too long to do any of it, but yeah, it's a long and very random list!

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who's kept reading my adventures while I've been away and left me lovely encouraging comments - there were times when it was tough, and I've really really appreciated everyone's kind thoughts and good wishes and responses! ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Thank you also to all the great people I met while I was over there - pretty much everyone in Western-Japanese K8 fandom, haha, and you were all wonderful, thank you all for all your help! I look forward to seeing you all again some time! ^_~

Wah, I had so much fun I can't begin to explain it in words! XD It's probably the most worthwhile thing I've ever done (which I probably said when I came back from America too, haha), and though of course there were difficult times, I got through them! The real factor that would've made it even better would've been knowing a lot more Japanese, so that's the next project. ;) Haha, I never wanna work again, I just wanna go off having adventures all the time! XD I could do like the fangirl's guide to Japan or something, haha.

I'm a lucky person, in very random ways - I'm very fortunate to have the financial backing to have been able to do all this stuff, and, for that matter, to just do my MA; I'm lucky I'm able to indulge myself this way, pursuing what I want. Haha, I put so much effort into enjoying myself, far more than I'm really willing to put into working! I'm a person who never gives up hope when it comes to things I want, I hate having to give up on something if there's even the most remote chance I could get it. Which I guess is a good thing, cos otherwise I sure as heck wouldn't have ended up seeing K8 three times, or, even, being in Japan at all!

Thank you again to everyone for all your support! ILUSM2U! ☆ Now I'm going to have a shower and eat a hot pork sandwich with apple sauce, and start my enormous scanning project. :D

In about 27 hours, I'll be back in the UK. ;_; I'm sad! There are a lot of things I'm going to miss:

- TV!! Even aside from the dramas I've been watching and MuchaBuri and so on, I love just having the TV on and there being some silly show with comedians in silver jumpsuits chasing each other round a field. I almost always know who *someone* is in any given show, and I've transcended the "WTF" factor into sheer appreciation.
- The wider media. Of course, I really appreciate the magazines and adverts you see everywhere - there's always some fun snippet somewhere!
- The biggest thing I'm going to miss, though, is the safety of everything here. The fact that you can leave your bag while you go to get a drink and it'll still be there when you get back. That's the thing that could convince me to stay in Japan a lot longer than I have this time.
- BL in the supermarket. XD
- I also love the food safety here. I completely trust everywhere I've eaten! Even slightly-dingy looking curry houses. I've never feared for my safety, which I do all the time at home. I really got into raw fish on nigiri here, but back home, I won't be so certain.
- Food in general. Zaru soba! Men's Pocky! Tempura! Yakiniku! Yakisoba! Gyudon! Unagi! BAKERIES!! Oh, the sweeeeet, sweet bread. :9 :9 :9 Those little chocolate donuts. I need to buy tonkatsu sauce. And eat a croquette. That's what I really want to eat before I leave. XD

There's one or two things I'm not going to miss, though:

- While customer service here is almost invariably excellent, random people can be incredibly rude without even seemingly knowing their behaviour is inappropriate. People will push in in front of you without even looking, and I rather suspect that it's being a foreigner that makes people do that, because the people who do it are almost always middle-aged or older, and if happens more often out of the cities. It just makes me laugh, really, because it's not an incredible inconvenience to me - it's just amusingly ignorant. I know there are ignorant people everywhere (especially elderly people who think they've a right to be rude just because they're old), but it's a surprise in a country where customer service people are so incredibly polite.
- People staring. Well, people do sometimes stare at me at home, because I do sometimes dress flamboyently and, for that matter, I'm quite tall and gangly and not especially attractive, so I often feel like people are staring in some weird fascination, or out and out mockery, back home. But here... it's more like being the local curiosity. XD I stand out because of my height even more here - once, even in Osaka, I got in a lift and one guy was all "...Bikkuri!" out loud. He even said something to me, though he wasn't being rude! When I first got here I found it refreshing to not think I was being seen as ugly, because I look so Western that I'm just different, not to be judged on the same criteria. But the only attention I've got has been, yeah, the stary kind. I don't quite know what to make of it! Oh well, at least here I seem like I have *some* chest at all. XD
- The extortionate price, and somewhat limited availability, of fruit and veg is also a kicker. x_o Restaurant food here is soooo cheap, but I like a nice bit of fruit to snack on and I don't appreciate paying 50p for one orange. o.O And you don't really get vegetables in meals here, so I'm looking forward to eating some when I get home. Haha, how sad am I? XD

Incidentally, I've also missed listening to the radio. I ♥ the BBC! ...In answer to my previous question, *very* sad. XD

Overall, I've had the greatest time here! I'm so pleased, because when I got here I was very homesick and thought I wasn't going to make it; it took me a while to get to grips with it. But I've seen so many awesome places and done such cool stuff and bought such awesome junk I feel like I've really had a fulfilling time. I've picked potatoes in Hyogo, made miso soup in Nikko, watched JaniBen in a monastery, had shiatsu in Abashiri, been to a Buddhist ceremony, seen numerous Shinto weddings, eaten gold in Kanazawa, been on a pirate ship in Hakone, been in an onsen in Kyushu (and Nikko), been 10 feet away from my heroes in life (hahaha)... I think I've covered all bases!

But I was worried after I'd been here a little while that by the time I left I'd've "done" Japan, and there'd be no reason for me to come back, after wanting to come for so long. But that's definitely not the case. I mean, Koya-san won't change, and Hiroshima won't change, but it would be nice to come in spring or autumn and see the different colours, and, to be honest, I'd just love to come back and enjoy being here again.

I'm already planning my next trip. And now, I'm going to watch the last ep of MuchaBuri I can live.

Today, as giving_ground and solaas were going to Hiroshima, I decided to check out a few of the temples in Kyoto, as they're so spread out we won't have time to cover them all in the time we have left.

So I went up to Kinkakuji, the famous golden pavilion. Yup, it sure is golden. That's about it. ^^' Unless was missing something very vital, there wasn't much else to it, apart from a pleasant stroll through some trees.

So that took, like, 20 minutes. Then I went on to Ryoanji, with its also-famous zen garden. The zen garden, as all zen gardens are, is a series of rocks arranged in some neatly raked white pebbles. Very nice, but I was expecting something more... expansive. The garden is all enclosed by walls and quite small - very zen I'm sure, but not as inspiring as I thought it'd be.

So I got on another bus, and went down to Daitokji, a temple complex not far away, again famous for its zen gardens. Similar story here - the gardens, though exquisitely maintained, were small and, to one not schooled in the zen arts, not as captivating as the more elaborate temples with more, well, shiny stuff and treasures. So while I'm glad I saw the zen gardens, I wouldn't necessarily call them unmissable.

Then I got on yet another bus (spent a fortune on bus fares today, because I didn't know where to get an all-day pass from) and went to find a tea shop I read about. I found it after only one false start, and had some... interesting tea I'd never tried before - not sure I was entirely keen, but you only have to drink 3 tiny cups of it. XD You have to cool the water to 60 degrees, so you have to keep pouring it from cup to cup till it's cool enough to put on the leaves. It was fun! I bought a couple of varieties, cos I think I'll have another tea party for my birthday this year, but a Japanese style one. A めっちゃ抹茶 party. Except I didn't buy matcha, cos I don't like it that much. ^^' (I hope people in my house like hojicha, cos I have a feeling I now have two lots of it. ^^' I should've splashed out and bought the more expensive sencha with the prettier name!) They gave me a sample of a very sweet powdered ice green tea, which I've forgotten the name of, but that was pretty good. :9 Maybe I'll get a chance to go in a different shop tomorrow...

After that, I went to say goodbye to Osaka. ;_; Managed to confuse myself so spent a very long time trying to get out of the station the right way, but eventually I did and went back to the sushi shop I went to a couple of times before. The guy remembered me~! ♥ I told him I was going home on Wednesday but that I'd definitely come back! I can't believe it's so soon! A week ago I was ready to come home, but now I'm not anymore! I'll be sad to leave! I'm already planning to come back - especially as I have people to visit next year too... People who are likely to get K8 tickets... ;D

Whyyyy did I only discover Friday magazine when I'm about to go home? >.<;; It has all the celebrity gossip. Though appears to be aimed at men, with its suggestive pics of girls in very little. o.O Plus, according to that Chinese article it's the magazine that got Subaru in trouble for smoking underage back in the day. ^^' But atm it has pics of Jin and that Rosa girl he's meant to be doing behind her boyfriend's back. I'd've been an avid reader if I'd realised it existed! x_o

Wah, so many things I'm going to miss when I get home! XD Though more on that closer to the time, when I'm summing up. ♥ さよなら大阪！好きやねん！また来年！

OK, just about calmed down from Shizuoka now. XD And there is much to report on! The day before yesterday we made the 6 hour journey from Tokyo to Hakodate, right at the bottom of Hokkaido. Hakodate is a sleepy little place, but has an interesting museum about the Ainu people, and it's also notable for its European influences - there's the old British Consulate, which now has a sweet little British-style tearoom and shop where they sell scones and rose oil and, um, golf equipment and the like. We pottered around the town a bit, and went to see the place where Hijikata Toshizou had his little republic for 6 months before they came from the mainland and crushed him when it stopped being so cold (NB: historical accuracy not included).

Then today we came to Sapporo! We got here about 3, having made a successful phone reservation (the lady spoke so slowly and claearly and was so nice, it was wonderful!). We wanted to look at the Botanical gardens and museum, but of course, it's Monday, so they were both distinctly closed (curse you, Monday!!!). But never mind, cos we shopped instead! :D It's beautiful weather up here - sunny but not too hot, and not humid at all - and the beer festival is out in force. XD Thing was, it all looked a bit complicated, not to mention full of tipsy Japanese people, the scariest of which would no doubt have approached us, so we ended up buying beer at the combini instead. *cough* But Sapporo is an awesome city! Seems nice and compact, but there's, like, a million department stores, a Mandarake, an Animate (somewhere...) and a nic clean atmosphere about the place, so we kept ourselves well entertained!

Ahh, it feels good to have shopped~! I bought a hat, finally! It's black, strawlike but Trilby-shaped in nature, with a black band with white skulls on it. It was half price! Probably cost me about £5. (I'm totally wearing it to one of the Dome dates, with my skull-print shirt. :D) I also got a wonderful surprise when this provincial Mandarake had a big stash of K8 doujinshi!! Including the first Subaru/Yasu dj I've ever seen!! I had to buy it, and luckily it's so tooth-rottingly cute I consider it one of the best Y210 purchases I've ever made! I also got a little Ryo/Subaru one, and a gag okan one too. XD There were more too! I was so thrilled! I should've bought the YOhkura one too... Makes up for the K8 playing cards I saw the other day that I didn't buy cos I thought it was too silly. >.<;;; Regretted it immediately, and have since checked every branch I've seen of Gyokodo (I think it's called that!), but to no avail. ;_; Also bought volume 3 of Gaiden as well. *_* So unbelievably pretty.

I've had an interesting fannish few days, actually! For anyone who cares about pop Japanese culture, if you want to know (that'll be, um, you, then, whited_79!), Katori Shingo has to be the most exposed entertainer in Japan atm. The new Saiyuki movie came out the other day (we think we're going to go see it - will try on Wednesday! ;), and he's been on *so* much TV lately, including Fuji TV's 27hour TV over the weekend. I went to sleep on Saturday and he was on TV... Woke up on Sunday and he was still on TV... Went out, came back and he was *still* on TV... (I kept thinking of you, aicha! ;D) Bless him, he seems like such a good sport, he was still so smiley and working so hard, even at the end. And on SMAPxSMAP he and Goro kissed. Well, it caught *my* attention anyway! XD (I've since seen the clip repeated in slow motion twice, at the end of 27hour TV and on tonight's SMAPxSMAP. XD Ahh, Johnny's, it's the same all the way up the ranks! Why did I take so long to get into JE again?!)

After that and Tetsuwan Dash, though, there was nothing else on cos of the election. :/ Damn, I really want to catch Shige's drama at least once before I go home! And Yamaguchi's too! And I'm a couple of eps behind on Yamada Tarou, too... I'll get that one subbed when I get home. ^_~

Oh, and by the way, my computer's wireless spontaneously stopped working. *rolls eyes* If I'd been by myself I would've thrown an absolute fit, but somehow, having Liz here kept me calm. XD Plus, we have a cable here. ^_~ My mp3 player, on the other hand, I'm not so calm about. It also stopped working - the battery ran out a few days ago, and, while it works when it's plugged into my laptop, it always starts by saying "Rebuilding music library" then won't switch on when I disconnect it. And there's no way to get the battery out that doesn't involve a screwdriver. o.O I've even tried pressing the tiny reset button (with one of Liz's earrings!) but still nothing. I've only had it 6 months too! Wonder if it's guaranteed? And, even if it is, will I still have the necessary documents... *sigh*

Oh well, it's sunny and pleasant and there's less than a week till I see K8 again, so I can get by! ;D

Ahhh, Hokkaido foils me with its Japanese ways. XD I *think* I've booked a place in Toya-ko for a couple of days, but it seems like we might spend a lot of time on trains and buses... Oh well, that might be the best way to see the place if it keeps raining!

Yesterday we went to Hakone, the mountain region not far from Tokyo. We took the train, then a bus which wound its way up the mountain and down to the lake, where you get a pirate ship to the other side, then you get a series of ropeways and cable cars up and down another mountain. :D It was great, and we had really good tempura too. :9 I love just travelling around, staring out the window. And I think I've developed a fixation for ropeways that giving_ground finds very amusing. XD

The day before that we went to see an act of a kabuki play! It wasn't quite what I was expecting - it was fairly, well, normal! XD It felt very much like going to see Shakespeare, except with more beautiful, exotic costumes and sets. It was an adaptation of Twelfth Night, lol, but still! I think I want to go and see some noh now, because I've seen it on TV and it looks far more... Japanese. ^^' I love that it looks so mystical and stylised, and the way they speak is fascinating to me. Hopefully I'll have time for that sometime later!

Today we're going to Nikko to volunteer at a Lodge. I'm not sure what the internet situation is going to be, so if you don't hear from me for a week or so, I may or may not be slaving night and day making miso soup. :3 Hey, that's a useful skill to have if that magazine article I was talking about last night is to be believed! XD I'm sure there will be Ways though. There usually are!

I was wondering why I'm so tired, then I remembered, I've been up an unusual amount of time because I got up before 6 to join the monks at their morning ceremony.

Yes, I stayed on the holy mountain of Koya-san last night, at Rengejoin temple, and it was probably the most worthwhile thing I've done since I've been in Japan. Oh my word. It just all felt so special, I'm so glad I did it. When I arrived they brought tea and a sweet, and there's a very newly-installed looking bathroom and toilets, and they come later and lay out the bedding. It wasn't warm (I read somewhere it's 10 degrees colder than the city at this time of year, so it was pleasantly cool), but it was wonderful just strolling through the corridors around the little gardens. And of course you get vegetarian Buddhist cuisine too - best miso soup I've ever had, for breakfast this morning!

Koya-san itself contains over 50 temples, and is where the founder of the Shingon Buddhist sect, Kobo Daishi, is in "eternal meditation". You climb a hill through an enormous graveyard up to his mausoleum at the top - I'm not a Buddhist, and so I don't pray at the temples (it would feel like I was taking it too lightly), but it's impossible to remain unmoved. It doesn't feel touristy or showy, like a lot of temples do - the visitors are mainly genuine pilgrims, who chant and pray at the temples and tombs. You can't have anything but respect.

There's also a museum in the town, and a precinct of other holy buildings, with absolutely loads of amazing Buddhist works of art. Going into the big pagoda, the monk there gave everyone some brown, incense-like powder to rub into their hands, and there's burning incense everywhere - I love the smell, I hope it's still on me a bit!

(Oh yes, and the day before, I had another day in Nara, and I went to a couple more temples there too, cos it was a gorgeous sunny day. Yeah, I know I go to a lot of temples, but I haven't got bored of them yet! I love the statues and art and history and atmosphere and chanting and incense and shiny gold things!)

I met an anime fan in the temple too. XD (He was on a tour that sounded like the one you came on, aicha!) You meet people in the weirdest places, don't you... ^^' I've met a few now - all guys so far, which reduces the chances of corrupting them with other gay shiny stuff, but never mind, they've been cool. And English, which is how I got talking to them in the first place.

I set off from Koya-san about 1pm today, and finally made it to Yokohama (I keep typoing it as "Yokoyama" ^^') about... 8. XD Well, it was before 8, but there's always a certain amount of faffing around while you come out of the station, realise you came out of the wrong exit, realise you got off at a station you didn't mean to get off at, buy another ticket, get back on the train etc etc, but I finally got into a hotel about 8.30. (I asked how much; the woman said "7-something something" and I was like "YES", I was so relieved to find anywhere! XD) It seems pretty nice too - massive hotel, small room, but ensuite and with a nice little goodie bag. :D Here for 2 nights - meeting honeybeanlove tomorrow!! Then on to Nagano. ...Oh crap, need to get that booked. Oh! And yeah, it was something that had gone wrong with my laptop, though I don't know what - I just rolled it back to a couple of weeks ago. :/ I suspect Firefox, actually, because it's lost all my bookmarks and has been acting really weird, like not letting me read my mail and opening loads of empty tabs. o.o Oh well, at least it's working again! *cling* (Hmm, feels weird adding that to an entry that started so reverentially, but well, it's all part of the journey, I guess...)

Fandom post to follow - will filter, as I don't wanna bore/freak out the non-fandom folks. ^^'

Oh! Yeah, Snaps Cup Love Meme thing! Everyone likes having nice things said about them! ;D

Midorikawa Hikaru is on a TV show! They just had the "omae o korosu" moment on. ♥ And he just recreated it in the studio. I'm far more excited about this than I would've expected! XD In real life, he doesn't sound anything like any character I've ever heard him voice. Seems like a nice, genial, entertaining bloke, though!

I got to Kanazawa about 4.30 - the journey took nearly 6 hours, but it really didn't feel it! There was a certain amount of waiting around in stations involved. ^^' But then m00nface met me at Kanazawa, and we spent the evening catching up. :D It's so great to see her again! And I'm incredibly grateful for her organising the room too - I'm staying in Kanazawa University guest house, and it's *so* nice! Nicer than several of the places I've paid more to stay at! ^^' It's a lovely spacious room, and has a view. Hey, a window's a bonus, so actually having something to look at through it is even better! ^^' (Reminds me of the video the Australian guy showed me, of a room he stayed in somewhere in south east Asia - when they opened the curtains, there was just a wall. XD) There was a beautiful sunset this evening - lovely clear skies, and nice and warm but not humid. I like it here already!

Tomorrow I'm going to at least attempt to make the last day of my rail pass count (I thought the last day today, but then I realised the actual expiry date was the 20th, and Amelia pointed out that the big "19" stamped on it actually referred to Heisei 19 ^^'), though it's a little difficult to get to places from Kanazawa. There are some lovely looking places around this area, though, so hopefully I can work something out. :)

Ahh, looks like no MuchaBuri on this TV either, so I'll stick with Midorikawa. ;) He's reading Saiunkoku scripts now. :D ...And playing a toy trumpet. ^^'

Man, I'm totally taking it easy aren't I? All I've done today was made the 3 1/2 hour journey from Hiroshima to Nagasaki. A lot of the journey, especially the Kyushu part, is through rice fields and little villages full of old-fashioned, traditional-looking houses - it's amazing to see houses, not just big mansion blocks! I even saw a thatched house at one point. I feel like I've come to the end of nowhere, haha. I didn't even notice when we left Honshu! But we did come along the coast for a while, which was very pretty, even in the rain. Just like being at home! ♥ It rained most of the way, and I didn't have enough hands to hold all my stuff and my umbrella on the way to the hostel. x_o It's a nice hostel, though! The lady who runs it is very mumsy. :D

Oh! I did post stuff to people today! :D I was proud, I conducted the whole transaction in Japanese. Hey, simple victories please me! ^^' It was a little on the pricey side. ^^' But man, it's good to not have to lug quite as many kilos of magazines round with me! XD ...Though I still have some. And will undoubtedly get more. *cough*

I think I might actually skip Nagasaki itself and take a day trip to Fukuouka tomorrow. I don't know if I can take another museum like Hiroshima. :/

I wonder what delicious foods Nagasaki has to offer? :9 I want to eat yakisoba, I haven't had it yet! I might try and do some writing tonight, not got much else I can think of to do!

Short news - am in Hiroshima, and it's a lovely city! But I'm typing on a black keyboard on the hostel computer, in the dark, and the space bar and backspace buttons are very tiny, and I can;t find half the keys anyway, so this is going to be a very short and staccato update.

I really felt like non-Japanese food today, and as luck would have it, I stumbled upon a tapas place with an English menu and English-speaking staff - and, importantly, Sangria! Then I talked to some Americans, and the hostel is full of white folks too, so it's refreshing to talk to people by this point! I got here about 3pm from Osaka, where it was bucketing down, but it was bright sunshine here so I went to look at another beautiful garden. Tomorrow I'm going to do the museums. Hiroshima is very shiny and leafy, I like it. It feels like a very homely, normal city.

I can't believe I've been here ten days! o.o I feel like I've done nothing! Oh well, plenty of time left!

Oh, and Meiji chocolate is surprisingly delicious! :9