BigMike's Big Japanese Vacation

[FATB0Y]

Wow, miss a couple of days and I miss 2.5 pages!

I know what you mean

[88runner]

The train station had an obvious sense of "Elevated" Security

Hey don't laugh about him, I bet he could beat your    even if he's half as tall as you are.

[sloyota]

whoops, we talked about it but I didn't write anything down because she needs to research one of the Kanji. She said that those are really old Kanji and are typically not used in names. She's wondering who gave her those Kanji? Her parents?

They are pronounced "Keira" (khe ee rra). She does know that the middle Kanji means "meaning". But she will have to look up some stuff on the internet for some more info

88runner: hahahaha

Thank You  Big Mike for all of your help...

[Pancho]

nice Mike the picks are cool. the STI and the Jimmy are great. Say HI to Misato and see you next week.

[rEdnECkwHeE1eR]

I did a little reserch and, there were turbo Jimmys in Japan, 3 cyl 1L turbo
They also switched to coils in 96(when they stopped selling them here(stupid ass lawsuit)) and made all kinds of changes to make is a move civilized truck.

[Duffil]

This fish was freaking the crap out of me. I just can't stand eating animals when I can still see their face. It's like they are watching me eat them and I hate that

You can't eat him, but you'll zoom in and take a pic??    Look at the teeth on that thing!! do you remember what kind it was?

[BigMike]

Hey guys,

It's just past 2pm here on Friday. I will try to get some more pics up today, but then I think that will be all until next week when I get back to California...  I only have 3 more days left, and not only will we be out most of the time, but I know the time will go by quick and I want to spend it with Misato instead of this forum



We went to a really nice sobaya (Noodle Restaurant) for lunch today, and then I hit another hobby store for some more parts for my 4WD touring car. After that, when I stepped out of the store, the ground was all wet. I had smelled rain all day but had not seen any. It rained while I was in the store and then stopped before I got out. Why do I speak of this? Well Tokyo is know for its common rainy days, but this is the first time it has rained during my whole visit here. Yup, suprising to me too. I figured it would rain 50% of my visit. But I did read that December is the driest month of the year, so no suprise there...

We have been busy cleaning up this apartment and moving Misato's things back to her other apartment, as she will be moving back there next week.

Well, I'll finish up New Years Day right now

Januaray 1st, 2006

After we ate breakfast we headed out in search of "kireina otera" (Beautiful Temples)

After we checked out of the Hotel and were on our way out, I found this Japanese guy who for some reason couldn't find anywhere else to stand

Here is a picture of the Hotel from the outside. Just looks like any other typical large city building.
If you look at the blue characters above the entrance, there are 8 of them. The first 3 are smaller, and are a "kana" script known as "Katakana".
The first character, that looks like a crying letter T, is read "ho" and pronounced the same, "ho"
The second character, that looks like a 1-legged person, is read "te" and pronounced "teh"
And the third character is read "ru" and pronounced "rru"

So if you combine those three, you get "ho te ru" pronounced "ho teh rru" which sounds like English's "Hotel" doesn't it? That's how simple katakana is for foreigners, and the Japanese use this script for all of their borrowed European words.
For instance "Table" would be read in katakana as "te" + "bu" + "ru" pronounced "teh boo rru," which of course sounds like "Table"
They do (usually) have their own Japanese words for these borrowed words, but it is convenient for use of words that they have no translation for.

For instance how would they say Alternator or Distributor in Japan? They did not invent nor name them, so they had to borrow those words from our language. Therefore they would be read in katakana as:
Alternator: "a" + "ru" + "to" + "ne" + "ta" pronounced "ah rru toh nay tah" which sounds like Alternator.
Distributor: "di" + "su" + "ta" + "ri" + "be" + "re" + "ta" pronounced "dee su tah rri beh rre tah" which sounds like Distributor.



Of those 8 characters I can only read the first 4 and the last two. The first 3 are from the 46-character set of the katakana of which I have all 46 memorised, but the other 5 are from the Kanji set, which is an advanced set that was adopted from Chinese and converted for Japanese meanings and pronunciations. The typical Japanese person knows about 3000 Kanji and so far I know about 50.

Of the ~50 that I do know, only 3 of those is shown here, the 4th, 7th and 8th characters there.
The 4th one, that looks like a headless female wearing a dress, is a Kanji that has two pronunciations, "hon" and "moto," so I can read it, but in this case I do not know what it stands for; I need to know the two after it to understand it. Usually the pronunciation "hon" is used for "nihon" (Japan), so I am able to assume "hon" has something to do with or belonging to "Japan".
The 7th one, which is partially blocked, I know without a doubt is the kanji read as "kai" (related to a Business) or "au" (to meet [someone]). So in this case it must be read as "kai" which means something relating to a business.
The 8th one, which is also partially blocked, looks like the kanji "tou," which has multiple means including "metropolios".

So from all of that garbage, all I can make out is "hoteru hon (something) (something) kai tou." So I can't exactly understand all of it, but from what I can understand, I have enough information to assume that this must be a large Japanese Hotel Business, perhaps a chain-hotel business like that of "Motel 6" or a "Holiday Inn" etc.
Wow, that was fun! All that just to figure out what that building is used for! But after you have seen the character over and over again, the meanings and pronunciations come very quick, and it slowly becomes basic script to you.


And finally, here are some shots down the streets looking both ways. This aspect of Kyoto seems no different from Tokyo.

[BigMike]

Hey TURBO, I see you are in here, reload this page because I added a bunch of stuff to my previous post about how to pronounce the characters above the entrance to the hotel. I'm sure you will enjoy all of that-

How's it going man?

Are we still on for Chiptole in 3 more days??

[BigMike]

Heading down the street to the next bus stop gave me some nice photo opportunities

I found out that Kernel Cluck likes to grope short ladies in Kyoto,
Elvis isn't dead, he just moved to the formal Japanese capitol,
This store workers here were very angry,
And I found out where to go if I needed to get [snatch movie]proper f***ed[/snatch movie]

Turkish: Well the rabbit gets f*ed.
Tommy: [pauses] Proper f*ed?
Turkish: Yes, before "Zee Germans" get there.

[BigMike]

Here is a picture of a bunch of eager Japanese shoppers waiting for the doors to open for the first time in 2006, and be amongst the first ones to receive their special "New Years Gift Bag".

The Gift Bag is just a bag that you buy for a set price, like $80, and you have no idea what is inside of it.
Inside of these department stores, there are many different brands of stores, so you would just walk around until you find a brand that looks good, and buy a bag. Some bags contain items from that particular store worth more than $80, and other bags worth less than $80. It's also a good way for these stores to clean out some of their "non-selling" merchandise. Girls were GOING ABSOLUTELY CRAZY over these bags. I took a video that I will have to post up later that WAS INSANE.

Here is a picture of a woman carrying one of these bags. I guess if you have good fortune, then you'll choose a bag that has something you need

Here's your typical ATM service. It looks like a bank in the front, but when you go inside, it's just a large room with many ATM machines in it.

Each ATM machine had it's own calculator. Well what else was I supposed to do with it? hehehehee (do you get it?)

[BigMike]

Right outside the ATM room I spotted this SA-WEET DUAL SUSPENSION MOUNTAIN BIKE!!!

Then just before we got to the basu noriba (bus station), we walked past this Catholic Church which I thought was rather interesting.

[6.72:1]

Looks like loads of fun! Rock on!

[BigMike]

Then the day started getting better, much better!

We rode the bus for about 30mins including some up hill roads, which happened to be the first time I have been on an incline of more then a driveway in the last month.

When we got out, there were many older-style buildings that I had imagined the city would have. I was pretty excited! We continued walking up this hill on a street where there were a bunch of people and many little stores selling all kinds of stuff from Dishes and Pottery, to maneki neko (Welcoming Cat, [aka. Super Luck Cat]), to fake and lightweight katana (Japanese swords), and traditional wear from wooden shoes to kimono (traditional dresses) and head wear. There were also many speciality food stores where they would have an entire store full of just one style of food. Like a dai-fuku (Mochi Rice with a "Suprise" flavor-ball in the center), senbai (traditional Japanese dry crunchy delicious snack), amazake (Sweet Rice Wine (sake) drink), yaki-tori (Speared Chicken pieces, Shishkabob style), and tsukemono (Special Japanese pickles ).

We kept walking and walking and walking, and then we came up to a red gate. It had two horizontal supports and two major vertical supports/areas. Later I learned that this means that there is a Shrine nearby.

It was pretty cool just wondering how old these pieces of wood and cement must be.
It was so hard to imagine men doing all this work over 600 years ago without any proper tools and machines that we have today.

[BigMike]

It wasn't until I turned around that I realized just where we were and how awesome this place was!

We were overlooking Kyoto. Very Nice

Here's a Tower right next to where we took that picture from.

[jimbo74]

im lucky i have a 2453 kbps download speed

[BigMike]

This was a huge fortress with many places to go and things to see. They had certain entrances which were open to the public, and surrounding this whole elevated land area, was a large man-made rock-cliff to prevent sneaky samurai and other warriors from entering this place. I got a sense of security here, a sense of history, of course a huge sense of some/multiple religion(s), and yet I also felt a strong sense of relaxation or some kind of calmness to this place. Things seemed to be still, in tranquil. I'm not joking. It was hard to look around and not feel, I guess, "at peace." I know now it's not just hype when people say that..

In a couple of these pictures I was able to wonder off away from the swarms of people for some back-lot shots.

[BigMike]

Here are some stones I found. Misato told me that each one represents a different type of 'god'. You know, like the nature-god, the river-god, the tree-god, the sun-god, the cloud-god, the grass-god, the earth-god, retc.

[BigMike]

im lucky i have a 2453 kbps download speed

Hey I said I had a bunch of pictures. I could reduce the quality even more and get the average file size down towards 30kb if ya want


We then had to pay I think $5 per person to get into the larger area of this temple, and to see more of the shrines.

At some times, seriously, it felt like this has all just turned into one huge marketing theme. Someone's gotta be making a killing off of all these people. But then again, this many people are only here on occasion throughout the year, so perhaps the money is completely used for upkeep and for the land.

Here are some pictures off to the right side (North side) of this Temple/building, and also a picture looking West uptowards the trees. Those trees look pretty sweet. The vegetation here is very dense, thanks to a 1.58 m annual rainfall (5.2 feet).

[jimbo74]

oh i dont care, its jsut going to screw all the peopel on dialup.... im on cable, and its quick.... so no problem for me

[BigMike]

Here is some action from the first shrines that I saw.

Like I mentioned before, being Christian, of course I don't believe in rocks or wooden objects having a soul that I can communicate with, but I do not feel uneasy about being around them. I thought I would feel very uncomfortable, but being here was much more of a greater experience in my life. I am very grateful that I have been able to experience these things first hand, and to watch so many people walking through the motions and gathering as much as possible for keeps sake.



The one shrine has a message that reads "Please write down your troubles on this paper doll and put it into the water nearby. When the paper dissolves in the water, your troubles will be cleared up." 1 Sheet 200 yen ($1.75 US)

They had many things like that, where your troubles would be carried away by the wind, or by the flames, or by dissolving in the water.

This Shrine here below is called "jishu-jinja" and is famous for being the "Love Shrine". You can buy countless charms to help you snag the one you love. It features two "love stones" positioned around 18m apart which the "lover must walk between with eyes closed to confirm their loved one's affection."

[BigMike]

These steps lead down to the "Otowa no taki" or the Temple's Waterfall. Visitors stand beneath the waterfall, and collect water to drink by holding out little tin cups. The water is said to be pure and hence "purifies your soul."

And theres Buddah himself, the main attraction. The routine is to walk up, bow twice, clap twice, offer some money (by tossing it near the idol), say a prayer, and then bow again. Bowing is to show "trust" to the gods.

[BigMike]

It wasn't until I walked another 30 feet or so that I realized just where we were.

This was the very famous Kiyomizu Temple!!! I had no idea! but I immediately recognized it when I saw it from these views.. Very beautiful and wonderful, both architecturally and structurally!

If you look back a couple of pages from before I left for Kyoto, I had linked a couple of pictures here, and one of them was this temple. So I actually already seen pictures of this place, and I didn't even realize it dispite having walking all through it

And on the hill side to my right are all of these trees. Who recognizes these trees?? If you guessed "sakura no ki" then you are correct!! Yup, they are none other then the very popular Japanese Cherry Trees which have amazingly beautiful Blossoms which last 6 months throughout Japan. So they are really valued and a really important icon for Japanese life.

[BigMike]

Well, this is all the time I have for now. This is 1/4 of the pictures I have just from New Years Day and we did more the following day as well, not to mention that I have been taking more pictures back here in Tokyo.

Tomorrow I will meet up with a long-time Japanese friend (met him in Fresno back in 2000) who has moved back to Japan. So that will be great to visit him again.

I only have 3 more days so I might not get any time to post some more pics. I'll have to finish up when I get back state-side.

Thanks for viewing what I've had to offer! I've really been having an excellent trip here and I hope to do it again some day.

So long for now,
BigMike
Friday night, 9:15pm

[freds40]

Man, it's been a few years since I've seen that on a calculator. Still makes me giggle. So any idea as to when Misato might be able to make it back over here?

[unclejpl4x4]

 


?Hay  mike  can U make out what they are saying  in this clip

http://www.break.com/index/nohelpride.html


I work on arial platforms at work   and that just turnd me tummy

[trekker]

those are some great pictures im glad you had a great time 

[BigMike]

?Hay mike can U make out what they are saying in this clip

http://www.break.com/index/nohelpride.html


I work on arial platforms at work and that just turnd me tummy

We just saw that and wow I hope everyone was ok from that! Misato said that she has never heard of that, so it must be rather old, maybe from the 90s.

The video is short but what they said is that the ride got stuck at 27m above the ground, and they sent out a rescurer on the boom, and he was in the process of removing the restraint system to begin removing people one by one, and then suddenly the ride got un-stuck and dropped, and the two people who fell (the rescurer and a customer) were in critical condition at the time and rushed to the hospital. Then the video ends.

[kneedownnate]

Hey guys, just so you know that suzuki samurai is a Jimny, not a jimmy.  So you're still gonna be posting up pics for like a week or more after you get back at this rate?!  Man, you hafta have a big calous on your finger.

[BigMike]

Nate, The Jimny's are the newer version of the Jimmy. I have seen a couple Jimny's and I have taken pictures of two older Jimmy's. Strange, why did they do that?

Well it is almost 10am here on Monday morning, and I am about to leave for Narita where the Int. Airport is. I will be back in Cali at about lunch time your Monday.

So I will be traveling in a time machine, and will be going back in time by 17 hours :surprised:

See ya on the flip flop, litterally
BigMike

[Rocksurfer]

Nate, The Jimny's are the newer version of the Jimmy. I have seen a couple Jimny's and I have taken pictures of two older Jimmy's. Strange, why did they do that?

Well it is almost 10am here on Monday morning, and I am about to leave for Narita where the Int. Airport is. I will be back in Cali at about lunch time your Monday.

So I will be traveling in a time machine, and will be going back in time by 17 hours :surprised:

See ya on the flip flop, litterally
BigMike

This is going to be the longest 2hrs you'll ever experience!!


I'll be home all day if you want to swing by to get the video of the RB. I also have something from another time that will be of interest to you and Marlin. I'm thinking unless you jump on someone's puter to say your home to us you may not see this till you get in, I'll send it to you if you forgot.