My Japan Adventure18829
 Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
| On a train now that will take me to the Sea of Japan side of Japan once it leaves the station. My goal is Amanohashidate, and it's a waaaaaaaays out there, so this will be a rest-my-feet day. I have never been on this route to Amanohashidate from Ōsaka before, and I'm hoping for some pretty country to look at along the way. | ||
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Tiger on a train? I'll take that. |
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| Post 202 • IP flag post | ||
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Who says you can't have dessert for breakfast? This is my mandarin orange sandwich from... 7/11. |
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| Post 203 • IP flag post | ||
 It gets old smelling it everytime I go outside my door.
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Nearmint67 private msg quote post Address this user | |
@Byrdibyrd You go girl. You adventurer you. The whipped cream on the Mandarin looks yummy...  |
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
| The whipped cream was yummy. I cannot lie. Also yummy was my shrimp & veggie wrap that went with it. 🤤 | ||
| Post 205 • IP flag post | ||
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It gets old smelling it everytime I go outside my door.
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Nearmint67 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Byrdibyrd Well you keep on adventuring (very happy for you) and I will check back in a bit. My recliner is calling me (hey, hippie, get in here.) Did you hear that? lol.... |
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HAmistoso private msg quote post Address this user | |
| The sushi suspense is killing me... HAHAHA!!! | ||
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It gets old smelling it everytime I go outside my door.
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Nearmint67 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @WMorse I once had a "crazy roll" I think it had shrimp & salmon and diced jalapeno. Delicious... | ||
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HAmistoso private msg quote post Address this user | |
What is going on here: ??? HAHAHA!!! |
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| Post 209 • IP flag post | ||
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @WMorse One of the long distance sleeper trains. There aren't very many of them left. |
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HAmistoso private msg quote post Address this user | |
| It appears there are more awake than asleep! | ||
| Post 211 • IP flag post | ||
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Nearmint67 Seat on my train is doing it, too, but I need to stay awake or I'll miss stop. |
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| Post 212 • IP flag post | ||
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by WMorse Those are the panda seat covers! Damn, but they can look creepy sometimes. |
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HAmistoso private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd They look like squirrels. |
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by WMorse They look like the wailing spirits of the damned, hoping to prey on your unsuspecting brains before the zombies can get to them.  |
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HAmistoso private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Night adventure indeed... | ||
| Post 216 • IP flag post | ||
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Hanging out in Toyooka, waiting on my little rinky-dink train to finally take me to Amanohashidate. I'll get there with just enough time to get what I came for (a really annoying Shinbutsu shrine) and not much more. At least the train ride here was pleasant. Mountains with cedar trees and big stands of bamboo. It's a bummer the position of the sun kept me from getting very many decent photos.  Dang! Weather forecast said it would be warm(er) out here today. Weather forecast lied. 🥶 |
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| Post 217 • IP flag post | ||
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
How rinky-dink is this train? This is what passes for one of the stations. |
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| Post 218 • IP flag post | ||
 I have a problem with fattening women up.
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Bronte private msg quote post Address this user | |
| At least it has trash cans. In my area they are either overflowing or non existing. | ||
| Post 219 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
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BrianGreensnips private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Byrdibyrd This is an absolutely amazing vacation post. Your photos and explanations are fantastic. This is as good as, if not better than some of the sabbatical presentations that I have had to sit through from my professor coworkers. I am very impressed. Enjoy your time there. | ||
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 Masculinity takes a holiday.
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EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd Not sure why, but I love that picture. |
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
My BOAT on the way to the shrine. |
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Bronte It's not like there's no trash, it's just that it's never there for long because someone with a little pride will take the trouble to neaten things up. |
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by BrianGreensnips Thank you!! I'm so glad you're enjoying this. I'm having such a great time with forum friends. It's so nice to travel with friends, and on this trip, y'all are it!!!   |
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Aren't these little monsters just the same everywhere they are? |
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| Post 225 • IP flag post | ||
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by EbayMafia I'm glad you liked that one! I was actually very pleased to get it. Those tiny stations are really tough to photograph. Either my seat isn't in that one right spot on the train to see it while we're stopped and/or it whips by too fast to do anything because the train is moving. |
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scratchtasia private msg quote post Address this user | |
| My Japan adventure has started now. I left my house at 5 AM Wednesday morning and flew to LAX. Then I switched airlines and flew to Tokyo, arriving at Haneda airport in the early evening to take trains to Fussa, where my brother lives. For an extra treat, I got on one of them going the wrong way and had to switch trains to reverse direction. I had a nice, reasonable room at the Toyoko Inn there, with the hardest pillow I've ever met. But after the 28 hours it took to get there, and only about 1.5 hours of sleep during the journey, the pillow presented no impediment to sleeping. My brother and I picked up a few things at some shops today--I should have brought a 3-to-2-prong adapter for this laptop--and I have made my way to Shibuya, home of the famously busy crosswalk and the Hachiko statue. A short time ago I checked in to my lodgings for the night, a hostel where my space is about the size of one of those capsules at a capsule hotel. And now I'm letting my phone recharge a bit before I head out for dinner and a concert. I'm off on my own for a while, as my sister-in-law will be returning home tomorrow after a week in the hospital with my brand-new nephew. In Japan and at least a few other Asian countries, the new mother stays at home with the baby for a month or so before venturing out or meeting other people. I'll be encroaching on that tradition somewhat before this trip is over, but first I want to give them some space and do my own things. For economical and PTO-scheduling reasons, it made much more sense for me to get here in December rather than wait until next year. I don't have as much of this trip planned out as I'd like, but I have some things in mind and will be doing some planning along the way, as well as winging it now and then. I managed to score tickets to Comiket, a two-day convention which focuses on doujinshi, independently created and published manga. I haven't read a whole lot of manga, especially not without translation, but it should be really interesting to walk around and see what people have to offer. But that's not for another few weeks. I'm in Shibuya for the weekend, with concerts on two nights, and I will probably fill the rest of my time here with record shopping and general exploratio. There are some amazing record stores here. |
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Today was pretty special. I managed to accomplish the one thing I really needed to, but not much else. I started with a three hour train ride out to the boonies followed by another hour+ on a little rinky-dink train in order to reach Amanohashidate. Amanohashidate is considered one of the most scenic locations in the entire country. You'd think there would be better transportation out there, but maybe that's just me. Amanohashidate, the 'heavenly bridge,' is a thin sand bar covered in thousands of pine trees. It connects two promontories and forms a coastal lagoon. At the north end of the sand bar is Kono-jinja Shrine, and at the south end is Chion-ji Temple. I reached the south end first, but because my primary goal was Kono-jinja, I bypassed Chion-ji. In order to get to Kono-jinja, I had to take a boat and traverse the lagoon. The sightseeing boat was very nice and I was able to get a good look at the sand bar.  Kono-jinja is a very old shrine that can trace its history back to the 4th or 5th century. It venerates Amaterasu Ōmikami, goddess of the sun and progenitor of the Japanese Imperial family. It's a Shinbutsu shrine and one of the ones I was missing. Now it's dealt with. Sorry for a lack of photos, but photography was absolutely forbidden there.  I took the boat back to the other end of the sand bar and ended up having time to visit Chion-ji after all. This was a good thing because Chion-ji's principal icon is Monju, guardian of people born in the Year of the Rabbit, so he's my guardian. I try not to shine him on. Monju is the enforcer of Buddhist law. He carries a sword in one hand, a lotus in the other, and he rides a lion. Best to stay on his good side. The Monju at Chion-ji is particularly noteworthy because he is considered one of the three most prestigious icons of Monju in the country. The temple itself is nice, and it also has some very fun o-mikuji. O-mikuji are paper fortunes that a visitor to a shrine/temple can buy. Open up the o-mikuji and see if you have good fortune, very good fortune, a little fortune, or - uh-oh - bad fortune. After being read, the o-mikuji is often left at the shrine/temple. They are tied to designated places, frequently tree branches. Some places have a gimmick with their o-mikuji, and Chion-ji is one of them. Their o-mikuji are written on tiny fans that must be opened to be read. This means the low trees branches at the temple are full of tiny fans. It's quite a sight.  I'm now on a train headed back to Ōsaka. I usually write this on my Chromebook, but tonight I will be getting back so late that I'm doing this on my phone. It's tough getting photos to load because I keep going in and out of tunnels. Here is one of the only photos of Kono-jinja that I could get before I reached the no-photos-past-here sign:  Here's the big main gate and main hall of Chion-ji:   Hopefully tomorrow will be less with the travel drama and I'll be able to get back at a reasonable time and do this less piecemeal than I am right now. Tomorrow might be a day I spend in Ōsaka, or... I might be going to Hiroshima. |
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @scratchtasia WELCOME!!! It sounds like you're going to have an amazing time with friends and family. It's cool that you stayed at a Toyoko Inn. I have a membership with them so that I can get a discount. Their hotels are very nice and you can't beat the free breakfast, but if you're traveling solo they get a little pricey. Room rates for a twin/double are great, but a single is only about $10 less than a double, so it's best to travel with an even number of people if you're going to stay there. I totally got on a train going the wrong way on my first trip! I hopped off, ran to the other side of the platform, got on the next train going back, and tried to pretend it never happened. I want to hear about your adventures! Please post whenever you feel like doing it. |
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
Hawaiian burger in Japan? Why not? |
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