Tuesday, 31 August 2004

The Motorcycle Diaries

Man, just found out about this movie: The Motorcycle Diaries and it looks to be what Lost in Translation was for Japan! Can't wait to see it as it's set in South America with a huge portion in Peru!!! Looks great! Check out the official website by clicking on the movie's name above!

Fuji Update....

Alright, fine.... more memoirs from my Fuji climb.

It rained and poured but it wasn't as cold as everyone keeps saying. In fact, if it wasn't so rainy and windy the climb could have been pretty confortable!

It was dark. Pitch black, yet some Japanese climbers were climbing the moutain withough flashlights! Scared the Hell out of me when I was scanning the climb ahead and my light shone on a group of huddled climbers. In fact, I think all the non-Japanese were more prepared for the climb.... though I must admit too wearing jeans which got DRENCHED! Word of advice: Wear waterproof clothes. A raincoat doesn't cut it.

Anyway, it was black and you can't see ANYTHING. There are some city lights and it does make the climb more interesting but because of no sunlight, there's also more fog and clouds and dampness. We didn't make it to the top (because of the rain and wind and the token American, after making jokes about Aussies being real tuff, etc) decided to call it quits at the 8th station (about 500m from the top). I was all for a rest (I was REAL wet) but only for an hour or so. Eric went straight to bed in the station/hut.

The "station" isn't a train station, but more a lodge with a Japanese fire in the floor (should have taken a photo) food and 2 rooms with about 30 bunks in each.

At around 4:30am, we could see that it was lighter outside but there was no way to see the sunrise if we kept climbing to the top anyway so we decided to rest some more and head out in a few hours.

At 7:30am we headed outside. The sun had evaporated the clouds and the view was incredible! I compared it to what it must be like to climb the Andes. Eric and Brenton had decided to climb down and give the top a miss. I was a bit disapointed because it would be really cool to climb to the top.... but 500m wouldn't make that much difference to the view... we were told it would take anther 3.5 hours just to climb that little bit extra... so I agreed to climb down as well. The view itself from the 8th station was amazing and we had accomplished quite a bit considering almost all the other tourists had stopped at the 6th and 7th stations for the night because of the rain and we found out on the bus on the way home that most of them had headed back down in the morning.

I think we did pretty well.

More on the way down tomorrow...

Correspondence

Day off today! YEAH! Using today to get several things done such as sending postcards, mail, getting photos printed (and sending them with some letters), dry cleaning but I forgot to do the most important thing! I forgot to send off a mobile/bank related form! DOH!!! Will have to do that tomorrow.

I'm still throwing around ideas for what to do tomorrow. I might go to Chibi City (get another Starbucks mug), Shimbashi (shopping) or somewhere else... but I might just lay low and save money for next month. I've done quite a bit this pay-month; Fuji and a Sera Myu musical and I have about 400,00 YEN left! If I can save all of that until the 15 September I'll be stoked!

Random thought: There are a lot of Japanese who think Arnold Schwartzeneger is Australian. :D

Sunday, 29 August 2004

Phone Home...

Just tried to ring Orange (Mum, Roger and Heather) on the payphone but got such a terrible reception that I had to hang up. They did get a new phone number, so maybe it's the new lines that are screwing with it. Could also be the weather tonight (raining). Either that or Japan's going through a tunnel. ;) Also tried both of Pam's numbers and Dad's but they were all engaged.

....crap.... should have called Dale. Sorry, man! My family's living in too many places now! It's getting confusing! At least Heather's back home now to cut back on numbers!

Friday, 27 August 2004

more eye...

My eye's in the same condition as it was last night today. Allison at work says it's called "sleepy eye" and is caused by lack of sleep. Could be, but she says that that's just what her mum told her so I'm guessing it's one of those old wives tales. ;) My knee's getting better.

Okay, so you want to know about Fuji, eh? Well as I mentioned, it was raining the whole night. Brenton, Eric and I met in Shinjuku Station and picked up the tickets. It took us a while as me and Brenton were standing in the wrong line for the wrong tickets in the wrong business for over half an hour. Of course once we found the real place it only took us minutes to get the bus tickets I had reserved.

We decided on McDonalds for dinner (Japanese food on Fuji) and then stopped by the 7/11 for supplies and then jumped on bus for Fuji! I sat next to an American guy who works for Toyota. He get's sent around the world to Japan, France, UK, etc expenses paid for his job. He'd actually lived in Japan for a few years but had never climbed Fuji before. This was his first time.

Across the isle were some girls who just happened to be NOVA teachers from Chiba. They seemed to be having a good time and we had a brief conversation before getting to the 5th Station on Fuji.

Mt Fuji is divided into "stations". No trains, just rest buildings with souveniers, food and drink. The highest you can get driven is the 5th station. You have to walk the rest of the way. The bus trip from Shinjuku station takes about 2.5 hours which goes by very fast. Lots of highway and mountains (well outlines of mountains anyway. We caught the 7:50pm bus so it was pitch black!).

We passed the fastest rollercoaster IN THE WORLD which is under Fuji. Great reactions from everyone (including myself). Mostly "Holy Fuck" and "Oh, yeah". The coaster looks insane! I'm talking 15 degree turns here!

More tomorrow... ;)

Ow... my eye!

Jesus.... these past few days have been Hell. My left knee has developed a sharp searing pain thanks to Mt Fuji. I've been limping around Tokyo all week. This really sucks at work where I have to walk up several flights of stairs to get to the staffroom.

In other health news, I think I'm loosing my right eye. Had a swollen numbing sensation 2 days ago, and now there's a noticable swelling and a bit of pain. I'm at a loss as to what's causing it. I'm pretty sure there's nothing in it. Maybe a mosquito bit it while I was sleeping? Who knows.

I've also got a bit of muscular back pain, but nothing serious.

The weather's great though! Looks like summer's finally over! Love this weather!

p.s. I'll write about Fuji tomorrow... PROMISE.

Friday, 20 August 2004

Mt. Fuji!!!

Well I climbed up the infamous Mt Fuji on Tuesday night and down on Wednesday morning! Sorry for not posting an immediate update, but after 30+ hours of no sleep and serious sunburn and then work today, I simply wasn't up to posting an article about my experience.....

....and I"m not really now.... but here are some pictures from my trip! Enjoy! (click on them!)

Me 3250 metres high at "Station 8" on Mt. Fuji, the highest we got (almost to the top!)

A stunning view on our way down.

The second strange cloud we saw. Notice how smooth it is. That ain't normal!

Eric, not the first or the last to fall.

Mt. Fuji from the ground. The FIRST time I'd actually seen it! :D

This magical cloud formation in the shape of Mt. Fuji!

One of several lakes that surround Mt. Fuji. I'll check them all out on a later date.

My fave photo of myself and Mt. Fuji in the background.

Brenton and Eric truckin down Fuji.

A nice view from Mt. Fuji.

Another nice view from Mt. Fuji.

Tuesday, 17 August 2004

Planning...

Well it's raining today in Saitama, so I really hope it's a lot drying tonight when we're climbing Fuji! I booked the bus tickets for our trip. You can get a bus staight from Shinjuku to the 5th level of Fuji and it only takes 1 and a half hours! Pretty cool! We're getting the 7:50pm bus. Once we start climbing, it takes about 4.5 hours to reach the top, so we don't have to start climbing until about midnight. Pleanty of time to enjoy the pitch blackness and buy some souveniers.

Tomorrow morning we'll check out the town near fuji. Hope it's interesting. Apparently the world's fastest rollercoaster is there!

Well, wish me luck! I'll make sur eto take a lot of photos and video which I'll upload tomorrow.

Monday, 16 August 2004

Pre Planning

Went and bought a great backpack (hiking size) for my fuji climb tomorrow night, and some gloves after being told how feezing it'll be on the climb. Looked around for a jacket but just couldn't find one. Guess I'll have to make do with layers and my brown pleather jacket.

Sunday, 15 August 2004

zzz...

Woke up very sick today; sore eys, nausia, etc. Might have been the dodgey fish I ate yesterday for lunch on a Starbucks sandwich. Had a great nights sleep last night and slept some more this morning. Still a bit tired though as I've only had a few hours sleep this week.

Wednesday, 11 August 2004

Drinking in Shinkuku

Got a last minute call from Scott to go out drinking in Shinjuku, which I did, but by the time I got in there I could only stay for an hour and then had to turn around and catch the last train back to Takesato.

Met Brenton's two flatmates which were alright guys and took this video of one of many buskers in Tokyo trying to be discovered. CLICK HERE to view the movie. Remember you need the lastest Media Player from Microsoft.com to view it and the other movies on this site.

Sunday, 8 August 2004

Omoshiroi

Wasn't that last post interesting? :D 2 hours of sleep and incredible hummidity does that to a guy.

The cicada's are going crazy. They're a different breed than the Australian ones. Where we get the Green Grocers, Black Prince, Tiny Tim, Double Drummer and those tiger ones, Japan's cicada's are a bland brown colour (same size though) and act really differently. The other night on my way home, I saw one on the road in the light of a street light. I walked up to it for a closer look and it jumped at me ferociously, screamed angrily and scared the shit out of me! Japanese cicadas seem to be much more active than the Aussie ones which are much more docile. Hell, our ones you can even pick up. These ones are just freaky!

Saturday, 7 August 2004

zzzz

God, I'm tired!

Wednesday, 4 August 2004

Video Section Up!

Videos are now online!!! Check out the section to your right!

Ewww!

Man that scar on my foot isn't looking so hot! Puss, blood and swelling... anyone want to see a photo? :D

Tuesday, 3 August 2004

VIDEOS!

Well on my second day off (and I have tomorrow off too!) my feet are still recovering from hemp reaction (maybe they're in withdrawl) I decided to relax at home and just catch up on rest (missing a lot of sleep lately). I've given myself several tasks to do in these days, one of which was to finally write the backblogs for when Mum and Roger were here and my trip to Nikko. Still havn't done that yet but I did finally upload my videos! They'll be dated and sorted tomorrow with descriptions, right now you can just watch them.

Click on the name and it should open up in Windows Media Player. You may need a plugin but Media Player will get that for you.

Nova Welcome Party (my first video)
Party at Sengendai
It's a Small World (Ahhhh!!!)
Raining in Asakusa
Shibuya Shopping
Top of Nikko Moutains
Nikko Waterfall
Shinkansen Ride part 1
Shinkansen Ride part 2
Takesato Festival Movie #1
Takesato Festival Movie #2
Takesato Festival Movie #3

If you want to save them, click the right mouse button and select "Save Target As..." on the movie you want.

Monday, 2 August 2004

Relaxing

Didn't do anything today but relax and finally send off several packages; one for Kit full of Astro Boy merchandise to celebrate her pregnacy, one for Roger for his birthday and a postcard for Dale. Still have to send Dad's birthday present. Will probably do that tomorrow.

I think I might be alergic to hemp. I bought these really cool thongs in Shibuya a few weeks ago and have only worn them for 5 minute walks to the 7/11 but I used them to walk to the post office and shops (about an hour, return) and my skin on my feet blistered in several places (had to buy band aids) and I still, even now, have a rash in a straight line across the top of my foot. Really strange!

Sunday, 1 August 2004

...

Well the festival was on again tonight with more going on, which was strange. Got some great videos of the festival that I'll upload any day now. I also bought a disney themed photo album so I can develope my Disneyland photos and stick in memorabilia etc...

Oh... got a cheap set of speakers with a subwoofer for only 2900 yen!!! Bargain! (for my laptop)