Found In Hiroshima

A floating house? A restaurant? By the looks of it, looks like it's permanently moored by this bank. I posted up another photo, a crop of the photo above of a sign at the side at Blue Shoe's comment below. Was it for boat rental?

And to think the only other place I see one of those floating dwellings were in Kuala Lipis, along the Sungai Jelai. Don't see them anymore now. Anyone ever experienced visiting or staying in homes built on rafts  or what we called a "rumah rakit" before?

Happy labour day everyone! And to those in Japan, Happy Golden Week. Going somewhere nice for the long weekend?

This is by the way, my second entry for this week's Show Me Japan Vol 1 Issue 23.

I Miss This... The Vending Machines

Every single time I needed to find a shop or convenience store just to buy a bottle of water and queue for them, I miss this. Or that time when I saw an out-of-order vending machines in KL, I miss these too.

Rows and rows of vending machines - they sell almost everything and can be found almost everywhere in Japan. Gotta love the convenience (and in good working order too)!

There are plenty of vending machines there selling almost everything under the sun but there is one vending machine I hope I don't encounter in any of my visit. Want to know what it is? Hop over to Chris' and check it out yourself. Not for the faint-hearted though (or prudes, for that matter).

And yeay to Anna and her Show Me Japan Vol 1 Issue 23. I'm late this week, but I wouldn't miss participating in this for anything! ^^

Deers Of Miyajima

Tame deers wander freely on Miyajima, much to the delight of our son who was absolutely excited being up close and personal with the deers. He equated those deers with Santa Clause (as in reindeers), and we don't even celebrate Christmas!

Tourists are not supposed to either feed or touch the tame deers that roam around the island, but I guess we were a bunch of clueless, law-breaking tourists, as can be witnessed from the photo below.

The deers didn't really care to be friendly with us, because we had no food with us. Plenty of tourists got followed around by the deers because they smelled of food. XD But them deers sure look scrawny and not really active.

There was an issue about starving deers way back in 2008 and them being carted away or something  and a petition to save them put out. Is there an improvement to this now?

There are monkeys too on the island, but no photo of them monkeys in my collection. Simply because monkeys creep me out.

Taking A Ferry To Miyajima

Once upon a time,we got a couple of JR Passes between us and decided to travel the length and breadth of Japan in a week or two. Granted, we weren't able to cover as much as we would like to, but we sure had fun using it, not only on numerous JR trains but also taking ferries. And one ferry JR Pass covers is the ferry  to Miyajima. And to Miyajima we head to one sunny day in 2008. We got lucky with the weather on the day we set out to Miyajima because it rained the whole day, the day before.

At Miyajimaguchi Station,before exiting and heading to the ferry terminal. Ferries depart every 10 minutes (170yen) and the JR ferries are covered by JR Pass. Don't accidentally take the Matsudai ferries if you have JR Pass!

Exit the station and just follow the sign, and you won't get lost trying to find the terminal.

Boarding the ferry.

It's sure windy on the deck of the ferry! But who wouldn't be up there for choice spot to take photos upon approaching Miyajima, instead of sitting warmly inside?

What do you think of when there's a mention of Miyajima?My first thought was of the floating torii gate of Itsukushima Shrine. I've never posted anything about the shrine or much about the island the year we visited it, so I should rectify it and put up a post soon, shouldn't I?

Scouring The Country For A Super Hero

We virtually went all around Japan, just to find Ultraman. There are a few more places we've yet been to, but I think we are pretty happy we visited the big ones already. ^^

Of course, my boy was/is always chuffed to bits being able to meet his favourite super hero!

With a giant Ultraman Mebius statue at Ultraman Festival in Ikebukuro one fine summer in 2006. This was Raimie's second trip to Japan. On his first trip, we went to Ultraman Club in Asakusa (it's now closed though) and he was in seventh heaven meeting up with Ultraman Xenon there.

Ulfes is usually held during the summer holiday, and Zaini suggested if we wanted to cut cost down, we come during the summer holiday and just stayed in Tokyo & visit Ulfes. Much as I like Ultraman and Tokyo, just staying in Tokyo for a week isn't something I want to do while in Japan now. I still have lots of place to cover! 

At Ultramanland in Arao in Kumamoto Prefecture, which we visited in 2007 and 2008. We made sure we didn't miss a single "meet-the-heroes" sessions or the live-action shows.

Meeting Ultraman Mebius and Hikari at Ultraman Stadium in Terai in Ishikawa Prefecture in 2008. It's literally located in a middle of nowhere! The staff there got pretty "excited" when I wrote my son's name (to enter the jungle gym) in romanji. I guess not many non-Japanese speaking foreigners came to that part of town much.

With Ultraman Nice at Tsuburaya Jungle in Yao, Osaka in 2008. Where is it exactly? Let's just say it's on the way to Nara.

With Ultraman Mebius at Ultraman Club in Kawasaki in 2009 and 2010. Raimie made some friends there and was happily shooting "kaijus" with his newfound friends. Language barrier completely forgotten.

It's going to change soon though. Its inevitable I would say, because he is growing up/out of idolising Ultraman. Give him Kamen Riders, Goseiger or whatever ranger now.  However, don't ask him to let go of all his Ultraman figures yet! Those, we can't donate to anyone ever.

Yebisu Beer History

The origins of Yebisu Beer dates back to 1887, when Nippon Beer Brewery started producing beer in the area then called Mita Village. 

Nothing to do with the beer museum, this Yebisu photo
was taken at Dotonburi in Osaka. ^^
People actually lined up to take photo of this!

The name 'Yebisu' was later adopted in slightly altered form to designate the station, and 'Ebisu' has since become familiar to many as the name of the surrounding town. Nippon Breweries, Ltd. changed its name to Sapporo Breweries, Ltd. in 1964.

The Beer Museum Yebisu is dedicated to the history, science and culture of the beverage and the tradition of brewing beer. Beer making made its debut in Japan as early as 1876 when Seibei Nakagawa, who had studied the art of beer making in Germany, was chosen as brewmaster and oversaw the construction of a beer factory in Hokkaido, Japan.

In 1887, Japan Beer Brewery Company was established in Tokyo by a group of local entrepreneurs and they invited a brewmaster from Germany to create what became Yebisu Beer. Production of Yebisu Beer ceased for a period of 28 years, but was re-launched in December 1971 and was the first German-type 100% barley beer to be sold in post-war Japan.

Don't step on the Yebisu God!

The "Yebisu" beer that was launched in 1890

Some beer art

Obligatory cheesy tourist photo shoot. ^^

Don't forget to hit the souvenir shop after you are done touring the Museum! Of course, walk around and enjoy Yebisu Beer Garden too,while you are there!

Lisa is hosting Show Me Japan again this week. Hop over to Ichigoichielove's Show Me Japan Vol1 Issue 22 this week, and check out the Buddha's butt there.

An Afternoon At Yebisu Garden Place

Yebisu Garden Place is one of Ebisu's main tourist attraction;  a neighbourhood in Tokyo that emerged around the first big beer factory of the manufacturer Japan Beer (known today as Sapporo). It is built on the former site of a brewery, where the still existing Yebisu Beer brand had been brewed since 1890.

Its located near Shibuya and Roppongi with Ebisu Station being one stop before Shibuya on the JR Yamanote Line.

The story goes - in 1890 Japan Beer launched a beer that was called Yebisu. The beer from Japan Beer became an instant hit, to the point that the neighbourhood where the main factory of Japan Beer was located became “Ebisu” (modern written form of “Yebisu”). In 1901 Japan Beer built a train station beside the factory and called it “Ebisu” as well.  Japan Beer has since reorganized and was renamed Sapporo Breweries Ltd. And the original factory had to be moved outside of Tokyo in the late 1980′s.

It took us 7 visits to Tokyo to actually find time and energy to visit the place. Anyway, the place might be a little too out of the way for casual visitors just coming to visit, so I guess unless you are into beer history, drinking beer & chillin' out or visiting the nearby Museum of Photography (there was a nude photography exhibition when we were there), this may not be your cup of tea or may be a bit of hassle to go to.

At the train station

Some shots f the buildings there

A posh restaurant in the background - Chateau Restaurant Taillvent-Robuchon

Where were these people heading to? And what were they queuing for?

To get some beer of course! There was a beer festival or something when we were there and the place was packed with people.

Next up: Beer Museum Yebisu. Just because I don't drink beer, doesn't mean I can't visit the museum and check out the history, right? Not to mention buying beer glasses at the Museum's souvenir shop make good and rather affordable souvenirs to your beer drinking buddies.

Castles Of Japan

If there is one thing we don't really visit while in Japan and its something I'd like to rectify sometime soon, it's visiting Japanese Castles. OK, excursions to any castle had previously been vetoed out by Zaini and Raimie but I have high hopes I'd get to them someday. 

The  interest for Japanese castles is further piqued by my reading of an awesome Japanese Castle Explorer blog by Kyushudan, just like I got more interested in temples and shrines because of Yoshi over at Extracting Abstract. If you want to know more about castles, even the obscure ones - head over to Japanese Castle Explorer and explore them there. I promise you it would be an interesting read. ^^

The two castles that I actually managed to visit were (though it felt like just passing through):

Himeji-jo on a rainy day

And Osaka-Jo. Can you see the castle in the background?

Pretty sad collection, eh? And pretty boring way to pose for a photo. I'm ashamed of myself whenever I see my photos standing straight like that.

I sure have a long way to go (and way more trips to do) to cover any decent amount of castles in Japan and get to know their history! I absolutely believe one should learn about the places they are going to not just just visit and take photos at famous sites.

Anyway, if you have read my posts before, this blog is not where you can find samurais, ninjas, geishas or things like that. You can however get to know a lot about Ultraman in this blog! XD

With me posting up photos of Himeji-jo & Osaka-jo, I'm going to do a revisit  posts of the nearby area - Hiroshima & Osaka pretty soon. But before that, something about Yebisu, beer and a garden.

Tazawako By Day

If you remember, I posted up some sunset photos of the Lake earlier. If you don't, then check out my post : Sunset In Tazawako.

Lake Tawaza is the Japan's deepest lake with its depth of 423 metres (by comparison, Tokyo Tower is 333metres tall & Tokyo Skytree is 634metres). The lake is 20km in circumference  and has an  almost a perfect circular shape. Its water used to be one of the clearest in Japan, together with Lake Mashu in Hokkaido, but is now slightly polluted since the construction of a dam in 1940.  The appearance of the lake and its sapphire-blue colored water tends to change dramatically with the sunlight and the clouds, creating a rather mysterious atmosphere. This might be the origin of the most famous legend of the area, that of Tatsuko.

According to legend, Tatsuko was a beautiful girl who prayed to retain her beauty forever. She drank the water of the lake and turned into a big dragon and sank to the bottom of the lake.Just google them up if you need to know more about the legend. Or maybe, head over to Tazawako Tourism Association's English blog for more on the legend.

The lake area. The lake can be viewed either by taking the ferry (or by paddling the swan boats, if you chose to), walking or renting a bike to circle the lake.

There's a rest stop near the lake,where one can find places to eat and buy souvenirs. Raimie had a very nice goma ice-cream there, and his Mommy and Daddy went on a free food sampling binge in one of the shops.

 If you do decide to walk or cycle around, the road is quite narrow so beware of approaching cars! But no worries - when we were walking there, we met quite a number of runners doing their evening run and cars were careful of them.

A campsite nearby the lake area. Fancy camping there? I would love to try someday, after I armed myself with plenty of mosquito repellent, that is. :[

Remember the dragon head in the earlier post? Well, the two adults traveling with Raimie just couldn't resist poking our heads into stuff we weren't suppose to!

Anyhoo, anyone interested in Sakura beer or limited edition pink sake - click the link here and here. Don't mope around and be all doom and gloom in the face of adversity (I'm talking about the March 11 earthquake & tsunami) Support local industry and drink some booze, I say.

BTW, Check out Ichigoichielove's Show Me Japan Vol1 Issue 21 this week.