This Year’s Japan Trip Blog (At Long Last)

First off yes it was amazing, this was my fourth summer in Japan and also the best one so far!
OK let me begin by pasting a forum post I did while there:
GO!
Arrived in Japan about 10 days ago - and so far it has been a B L A S T ! ! !
OK notable things done so far:
-Ate the famous Sapporo delcacies in Hokkaido - yes they're as good as they say! Sapporo ramen, butadon and more! Accompanied by Sapporo beer of course!
-Met with Athanashiosu and his two buddies, Maeda kun and Yama kun! Had a blast and watched the Kabamaru live action movie!
-Spent a day in View Hotel near Sapporo - that place is paradise on earth! Amazing indoor pools, onsen, rotenburo (open ir hot springs), all meals were all-you-can-eat - kuihodai! Amazing girls in swimsuits all around, had a blast in two waterslide with Ata screaming and Maeda commenting! Room was great too and we played some Super Famicon too! All that for 7.500yen = 45 euro or so!
-Arrived at the Kyodo Gakusha farm in Shintoku town in Hokkaido for my workcamp - work is hard so far but fun as well! Met great guys and girls here! Eating amazing meals, we also went to an amazing matsuri - our grls team got 2nd place prize at rope puling contest! Ate lots! We also went bowling and other places!
-Free day 2 - rented two cars and drove around north of Shintoku, visited some awesome farms and flower fields and had delicious local biological katsu curry, melon and ice cream!
-Had a great farewell party for a great workcamp's end. Food was great, and I cooked again too for the 4rth time! Meals cooked (In Greeklish): Kotopoulo kokkinisto me ryzi & giaourti, makaronia me kima, gemista kai mousakas! Ola bgikan teleia! Very Happy

That post ends here so here's what happened next...

After the workcamp most of the volunteers grabbed a train to headed to Sapporo, though most got off before the terminal. My rail pass validity began that day as well and lasted till I returned home. Reaching Sapporo I said goodbye to the two buddies who were still there and met up with Ata-kun and Maeda-kun. We strolled around a bit, then came to Maeda's place for a huge dinner of shabu-shabu, karaage, onigiri and more! Yums! I then spent that night in a manga cafe for the first time and that was quite educating as well: Apparently manga cafes are becoming the poor man (or the geek's) cheap substitute for a hotel: With just 12 euros or so you can spend 9 hours there, in your own cubicle with a really comfortable recliner, a computer, free soft drinks and tea/coffee, free reading of thousands of manga, toilet, shower room (!), snack vending machine and even food delivery service!
Manga cafe facts:
-They're cheap!
-Japanese connections are *fast*!
-They have streaming TV-channels in the PC that play anything from anime and movies to porn! Yes that's right many customers have "fun" watching those or one of the dirty magazines you can borrow there.

Anyhoo, moving on!

After Sapporo I took a train to Noboribetsu, one of the southern cities of Hokkaido, famous for its hot springs, its bear park, its Jigoku tani (Hell's Valley) and the oni (demons) that supposedly come from there. I got a room in a not-quite-as-cheap hotel there, it was 7500yen a night, that's about 45 euros, but it was definitely worth it: Not only was there a great onsen (hot spring / bath) in the hotel but all the meals were amazing, very traditional and abudant and were served in my room to boot! There I visited the aformentioned attractions but unfortunately didn't have time to go see the Edo-period village nearby, though judging from the pamphlets it looked more like a cheap samurai movie setting than anything else.

After Noboribetsu I took the shinkansen to Hakodate, the southernmost tip of Hokkaido, facing Honshu. I spent less than an hour there, just browsed some tourist pamphlets and took a brief walk around the station till my train arrived. It looked like a nice city though nothing extraordinary could be seen either. At least the food there was great! Amazing squid dishes
Leaving Hakodate I crossed the great undersea train line tunel connection Hokkaido and Honshu. It was...well, dark, yet somehow interesting just thinking of where you were. After a while I got off at Aomori, the northernmost of the big cities of Honshu. Aomori was really great, a very bright and spacious city full of cheer and a really heavy accent! Aomori is famous for its great produce in apples, garlic and root vegetables. I spent the night in a youth hostel there where the owner drived me and some friends to a nearby onsen - yes I love onsen (hot spring baths)! Having eaten the local cuisine and various apples products and having bought quite a few apple-sweets at the Aomori Product Exhibition center, I took a train to Sendai!

In Sendai station I happened upon an orchestra performing on a big stage inside the station building, they were great! The city itself was quite a marvel, like a combination of a big city and a forest! So much green in Japan, even in cities
I didn't spend much time there though, I quickly grabbed a train to Matsushima, considered one of the three most scenic views in Japan together with Amanohashidate and Miyajima. I visited those two last year so this year I completed the circle! Took some of my best pictures in Matsushima too. Matsushima is essentially just a cluster of tiny islands filled with a kind of pine tree (matsu). Some contain shrines and those that do are connected to the mainland via long red wooden bridges. One of them bridges used to be quite a challenge, since every other plank on the bridge was missing! A thin man or a child could fall if he/she wasn't careful and after a few accidents planks where placed across the bridges for safe crossing.


After Matsushima I took my train to Tokyo, where I arrived late at night. Not having a place to stay for that night, I opted for a manga cafe in Shibuya, which was just fine The next day I left my luggage in coin lockers and went shopping and walking around in Shibuya. Great fun! Later that day I met with Mochan, my prospective cousurfing host (more info about that at couchsurfing.com). We had a party near Tamagawa with his WISH CLUB which I joined. Wish club is a group of japanese people and foreigners living in or visiting Japan. They party, they do excursions, they have fun! Mochan even has his own mini-bus for the club and hosts people at his place all the time! After the party he drove us all the way to his house at Shizuoka (that's a 2,5 hour drive, and he does that every Saturday!) where I stayed for 3 nights. The first night, after a second-in-a-day party a whole crowed stayed at his place, over 12 people total! But the next two days the regulars were Mochan, Keisuke and a bunch of 6 foreigners including myself.
During my stay there we went to Shizuoka beach, to a tea ceremony, the local onsen, to a mochi-making place (mochi = sweet rice cake) and more! Unfortunately I had to leave the day they were going to Fuji - ah well.

After that I met my friend Chikara-kun from my first workcamp in Tokyo. The lucky bastard has really improved his life: From a poor student to a well-paid architect that works for only 6 hours a day, gets to travel around the world and has a really cute girlfriend! Chikara kun banzaaaai!
We visited an observatory on the 62nd (top) floor of a skyscraper in Ikebukuro, where a bullet elevator takes you from 1st to 62nd floor in like 40 seconds!
After that i met up with four girls from the workcamp, Yukiko-chan, Han-chan,
Hikari-chan and Carine-chan (lucky me ) and together we went from dinner at the restaurant where Hikari works, followed by a Karaoke-all-nighter! Yes we sang for 7 whole hours! It was a night pack, around 13 euros with free soft drinks etc!
I spent that night in a manga cafe as well. The next day I went to Akihabara where I took the new express train to Tsukuba town north of Tokyo, where the University I want to study in is. A truly spacious, green, clean and high-tech city, Tsukuba town and Tsukuba Univ. were both great! The Univ. was simply humongous! It contained over 8 bus stops just within its grounds!
The same afternoon I went back to Tokyo and spent my evening in Akihabara, the Electric Town! Staying at a manga cafe once again, I woke up the next day to do my final shopping and took a train to Kyoto.

My visit to Kyoto was mostly a reminiscent one, since I'd already seen most of it the last 3 years. Just walked my old favourite neighbourhoods and spent the night at the Youth Hostel I stayed last year as well. The next morning I moved on to Nara to the south.
In Nara I met with Mayumi-chan, my second couchsurfing host and owner of the Nara Yuan cafe - the second floor of which was the guest dorm. I spent the rest of my stay there, at the sweet company of Mayumi. Some other guests stayed there as well, but I'm really happy that I got to be something more. I can't say if Mayu and I will move on as a couple or as just good friends yet since there is a big gap exceeding one year till I hopefully move to Japan, but one can only hope. At least she'll be coming to visit Greece this February and I'll be happy to have her at my place.
Anyhow, during my stay at Mayu's cafe I explored more of Nara, visited the local museum of phography with Mayumi (simply astounding stuff there), relaxed at the amazingly soothing atmosphere of her cafe and did a one-day trip to Naruto, all the way down to Kyuushu. Unfortunately i was a bit late in arriving there and by the time I reached the Naruto Whirlpool Observatory the famous whirlpools had all but vanished. Ah well, it was a great trip still, and i got to see some of Kyuushu too. Had some Naruto Ramen too! Cheap and tasty - less than 3 euros a bowl!

After that I spent the last day with Mayumi and the next morning I had to say my sad sad goodbye. Sad because I'd really miss both Japan and Mayu and because lots of work and my military service awaited me back in Greece... >.>
So here I am, about to say goodbye to my long hair and beard and about to have a year of my life removed by my country... *sigh*