Osaka.- A whale (shark) of a time...

Yeah ok - so the title is a bit lame - its hard to come up with catchy titles!

Anyway - we arrived to a rainy and cold Osaka on Saturday 6th of March. The local train system is so easy to understand, we just jumped on a local loop train and it took us everywhere we wanted to go. We had planned a little better this time so the first stop was our hotel to dump our heavy bags and then headed off to the Osaka Aquarium which is one particular thing we had been looking forward to seeing. The whole building is built around one very large central tank - the glass is 30cm thick to handle the pressures of 5 stories worth of water.

In this tank there are about 10 different species of sharks, a plethora of fish and rays, but the key attraction is the two full size whale sharks that dominate the tank. They are absolutely amazing creatures, their size and presence is awe inspiring.




We spent most of the afternoon there looking and hundreds of marine organisms from manta rays to crazy alien deep sea crabs. Unfortunately being a weekend it was very busy which made it frustrating at times to navigate around.

These were the strangest, creepiest, alien like crabs we have ever seen! You can't really tell in the photo but this one stood about a meter high.

That night we headed out to the Nanda district in central Osaka. This is apparently the place to be at night, with "youth" trolling the streets :)

In our wanderings we came across this cement area outside the train station where bunches of people were busting some serious dance moves. There was a heap of mirrors and reflective surfaces so they could check out there own sweet moves. It might sound like we are taking the piss, but actually there was some really really awesome dancers, some of which were doing syncronised routines - pretty impressive. Its pretty cool to see teenagers gethering and doing this sort of stuff on a Saturday night... probably not to be seen in Fortitude Valley anytime soon....

The best was a dude who looked like Michael Jackson - had some serious skills. Ill post up a video soon once i edit it.

We only had 1 night in Osaka as we were really keen to get to Kyoto, and also it was pissing with rain which made it not that great for cruising around. The next day we spent walking one of the "shopping streets", which was 4km long markets which had everything and anything - pretty amazing and Boos Boos was severely tempted to spend up big on various little bits and pieces... so she settled on some awesome desert action instead:



After our brief stop in Osaka - off to Kyoto for 3 days, which we were looking forward to massively to have a little break from dragging our big bags around everywhere.

Peace and Love
Doodles and Boos Boos

The Adventures of The Hiroshima Hog

The story of The Hiroshima Hog.

Borne from the depths of a shmelter in the far south of Japan - "The Hiroshima Hog" was created for one reason and one reason only - Cruising and Pimpin...

Sure thats 2 reasons, but lets not dwell on the technicalities here . Let me introduce to you... The Hiroshima Hog (forever know legally henceforth and forever-width as "The Hog" - Patent Pending):

The Hiroshima Hog - "Blue Steel"

The beast that was The Hog set out on a lonely Spring morning in Hiroshima - his normal crew of peeps were being soft, so he was going solo - watch out ladies!

He hadn't been out in a while, so decided to check out the view and enjoy there fresh air while he had the chance.


Having gulped down his fair share of tasty O2, The Hog went forth, cruising, pimpin, and checking out his fellow homies around the hood:

"Biggy"

One thing that can be really noted about The Hog, it that he had NO time for wanker try hards like Louis Vuitton. In fact so much, that he cant bear the sight of the ugly bastard...


After blowing off Louis, The Hog, with his infinite powers o' Pimp, had lined up a date at the local coffee shop. Her name was Big Basket Barbara and MAN did she have a big basket...

Unfortunately, Big Basket Barb turned out to be a little crazy in the basket area, so The Hog took his leave and headed for home. On the way however, things took a turn for the worse, and he had the bad luck of venturing just a little far from his home turf, into the hood of CT Dave... Here things went downhill fast, as The Hog ain't take no shit from nobody, petrol powered or not!

Unfortunately, The Hog came off second best in this round...

You may have won this round CT Dave - but you haven't won the war!!!!! The Hog will be back!!!

Feeling a little worse for wear, The Hog know that there was only one thing to do - get a cold nursing beer from the local 7-11, and make tracks for home.


However, little did he know it, but thing were turning around for The Hog, cos the girl of his dreams - "Noble Mini", had just gone through a terrible breakup, and was looking for some consolling by the Old Bridge. Low and behold, along comes The Hog on his way home... and thus - an irreplaceable union was borne...



From that day forward, no-one heard of The Hog, his hood went un-cruised, his ladies left un-pimped, he was like a shadow in the night.

And always, CT Dave was forever watchful - never knowing when The Hog might strike in revenge....

And here ends, the fabled story of The Hiroshima Hog.

City of Peace

So we arrived in Hiroshima late last Wednesday night a little unprepared. We rocked up to our intended hotel to find out that it was totally booked out. As well as the other three chain hotels in the city. So we turned around and dragged our bags around the streets of Hiroshima until we came across another hotel. From the outside it looked very swave and so were the prices inside. We woke in the morning to claim the free breakfast that was included...we opted for the western style for a little change from rice and miso soup. We were so incredibly full after our small bowl of salad and one piece of jam toast. We headed out to find some cheaper accommodation. We found this sweet backpackers hostel called K's House.

Once we were settled we went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and visited the A-Bomb dome. The A-Bomb dome was once the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall and was almost directly under the hypocentre of the bomb explosion. For some reason because of this part of the building remained standing and the citizens of Hiroshima decided that it should be a lasting memorial of that day.


It was an extremely powerful place. To be standing right in the spot that the bomb was dropped 65 years ago and to imagine being there going about your daily business, seeing a flash of light and everything being wiped out in an instant as far as the eye can see, including yourself.

We spent hours walking around the Peace Memorial Museum learning the history of Japan leading up to and including the war. There was a watch with its glass face smashed and the time stopped at 8:15 AM from the electromagnetic pulse emitted from the bomb as it exploded August 6, 1945. There were other artifacts such as burnt and torn clothes, charred lunchboxes and parts of stone wall with glass shards embedded in them from the force of the explosion. Also the imfamous steps where a human outlined has been burned. It only takes one walk around this museum to realise the destructive power of nuclear weapons and the danger their presence exhibits on our planet.


Another powerful tribute is the memorial of Sadako Sasaki who was 2 years old at the time of the bombing and subsequently diagnosed with radiation related leukemia ten years later. She believed that if she folded a thousand paper cranes it would cure her leukemia. Unfortunately she died before her target was reached. The memorial was created in memory of her and all the children lost due to the bombing. Every year thousands of paper cranes are sent from across the world and exhibited here.



We spent the night sampling various types of okonomiyaki which is a savoury pancakes topped with noodles, cheese, pork, cabbage, bean sprouts and a yummy sauce, you can also get it with eggy pestilence if you are that way inclined.

The next day was pretty lazy, Boos Boos wasn't feeling that great so Doodles ventured about solo. More on that to come...

That night we decided to drag Boos Boos out of bed and hit the town for a meal and some pachinko action. Since Doodles is an absolute doodle-head, he thought it would be a great idea to leave his wallet in the basket of the pushie outside the pachinko pallor. Five minutes later he realised, ran out and low and behold it was gone. 30,000 yen (about 400AUD) down the drain. Idiot.

Don't worry mum(s) we cancelled the cards immediately - in fact the replacements should be getting to you right about now.

The next day we packed our bags and dragged our considerably lighter pockets to Osaka...

Peace and Love
Doodles and Boos Boos

El Lako Deepo - Tazawa-ko

Tazawa-ko is Japan's deepest lake, around 430m at its deepest point. So a little deeper than Cootharaba.... although apparently they windsurf here in summer - maybe thats the next trip - "Lakes of Japan - Windsurf Extravaganza!"



Anyway, enough rambling, back to Tazawa-ko. The train from Hakodate took about 3hrs and a few changeovers, but we finally made it into the little town station. We had wanted to get off the beaten track and really submerge ourselves. We definately got that here. Two things to note: 1. There is a grand total of about 10 English words spoken up there, so we got lots of charades practice. 2. Winter around a lake in Japan means there isnt much open...

There was however, a local ski resort, and since Doodles was dragging his snowboard around with him, he thought it would be rude to let these hills go unridden. The resort - Tazawako Suki-jo, has about 5 lifts, and the snowbase was about 2m, so it was pretty good. It was also almost deserted - it meant sharing the slopes with about 15-20 other people at the maximum, which meant in the 3hrs that day, so was able to get plenty of runs in. The snow wasnt like Niseko, being a little warmer it was a bit heavier and slower, but there was lots of untracked terrain which made up for that. The camera died about 20mins into the afternoon, so there are only a few pics. From the top though you have a view over the lake below (top left in pics), which makes it pretty special.



I (Sir Doodalot) went out again the next day, but it was very icy and so wasnt that great - it felt like Perisher!

We spent the night in a ryokan (Japanese guest house) and were treated to some great home cooked Japanese meals. The way the food is laid out in about 20 different little bowls so you can just sample all different bits and pieces is definitely the way to go. Again unfortunately for Mandy there was a lot of fish! One day she will learn to eat seafood.. probably around the time Doodles starts devouring eggs raw...


After only a brief foray into Tazawakoian existance we were off again south to Tokyo, where we stopped very briefly before changing trains to head west to the City of Peace - Hiroshima.

Hakodate: Shi-Fu-Do heaven.

So its been almost a week since we last posted, because the first part of the week had no net, then the last part we have been having huge days and the social media motivation levels are not so high after getting back to the base each night. SO instead of writing a massive post which includes the last week, we are going to do a bunch of individual ones for each spot, so we can dump down the thoughts and pics of each spot.

We left you all last in Sapporo about to head to Hakodate, on the southern coast of Hokkaido. After managing to get ourselves on the right Shinkansen (aka Bullets Trains for the uncultured bogans ;)) for the 2 hr trip to Hakodate. Firstly, to put it simply - these things ROCK! Its like travelling business class on a plane, except much smoother and less hassle at either end. Unfortunately for us we didnt reserve a seat beforehand in so the first 45mins was spent jammed in the luggage bay of one of the 2 unreserved cars (each train has about 10 cars, 2 or 3 of which are unreserved) which were packed. After that some peeps got off so we got to really relax in the comfort of the huge chairs - deluxe action. Needless to say all trips since then have been reserved :)

Anyway, into Hakodate and off to find out accomodation - within 50m of the train station there is the local seafood market, and after ditching our big bags we went exploring. For those who dont know, Boos Boos HATES seafood, so this town was going to prove to be difficult to find anything for her to eat that didnt have a bevy of seafood in it... ah well - Doodles definitely made up for it.

These seafood markets are amazing, and are just packed with fresh seafood straight from the coast, which starts about 50m away in the bay. The local specialty is squid and King crab - and seriously - these things are MASSIVE. They are very much unlike the sand or mud crabs back is Aus, with most of the meat being in the legs and having smaller pincers. And these are very big - this one below wasnt the biggest, but still would have been 1m tip to tip if you stretched out the legs:


Needless to say this had to be sampled, so the guy ripped off a leg of one, and cooked it right there on a bbq. Add some soy sauce - heaven.


We jumped on a tram to one of the local hot springs, which was pretty awesome, though this one must have been where all the oldies hang out, cos there was some serious sag action happening, and we were glad it was steamy.

We took a wander out to the eastern most tip of the bay, where you could look west to Russia and east to the pacific... well if you had a good enough imagination, but you get the point. There was some pretty amazing headstones and monuments in the cemetery on the walk up, each with its own little junctures for incense.


That evening we headed up the cable car to Mt. Hakodate, which is a national park and sits on the southern most tip of the peninsula on which the city is built. We had heard the sunset and night views of the city were pretty awesome, so after donning the snowboarding clothes (learnt that lesson in Sapporo) jumped on the cable to the top.

Unfortunately, as you can see from the pics, the weather didnt really play ball and it was pretty cloudy, so the "sunset" was pretty shocking. The night views were pretty awesome, and after getting some snaps, we got out of there to avoid the masses of crowds who seemed to come from nowhere as it got dark.

Hakodate East Bay

"Sunset" and Western Bay

Hakodate Nights.

We didn't have a lot of time in Hakodate, as we had previously booked a 7am Shinkansen to Tazawako the next day before we got stuck in Sapporo the extra night. Doodles got up at 5am to hit the market for some early morning crabby goodness, but unfortunately their bbq's weren't fired up yet to cook the goods... next time!

Onto the train - under the 30km sea tunnel from Hokkaido to Honshu, and up into the mountains to Tazawako we went...