Visiting Kotohira-gu, Tamura, and Takinomiyatenmangu Shrines and Takamatsu Castle in the rain

Using Google maps I found a major shrine to the south west of Takamatsu. As such I decided to make a day trip out of it. It's about an hour ride from where I am staying inside Takamatsu. This first shrine is Kotohira-gu.

View Larger Map

Some pictures on the way there and then of course more pictures as I'm there. I don't have a whole lot of time to get stories done tonight so it's going to be short!

Met a kind old lady while waiting for the train. She made her way to me with hesitance, I could see her coming out of the corner of my eye, and finally got close enough that I said hello. Then she was all about talking. Sadly for both of us, my Japanese is horrible! I did at least do well enough to give her my name and ask for hers. She was very sweet. We parted ways after getting on the train but she came and sat by me to say "Farewell" when her stop came up. That's when I got the photo with my phone. First genuine attempt at a conversation? If I can call it that. I enjoyed it either way. It doesn't really bug me to not have any idea what's going on.

It's just me getting myself around and I don't really have anyone to ask questions. Which lead me to the apparent back way up to the shrine. There's two: the stairs below. And then the winding road that comes back around. Guess which is easier, quicker, and used by everybody else? Oh well, I got some nice shots of the forest as a result. You should aslo 

CLICK ON THIS TO SEE A PHOTO SPHERE

 as well as 

CLICK THIS ONE TOO

. Blogger doesn't really handle those too well yet so it's better to see them on Google+. The first is a side path in the forest.

Sorry the photos may not be the best. I have to kind of blind fire as the chromebook doesn't really like to look at large image files. So I'm going off of thumbnails. In the bunch somewhere is a cute little girl. She was reaaaaaaally cute and so shy when her mother had her say Hello after I had. I wanted to offer to give her candy but didn't want to overstep my bounds. Super cute though.

Someone with more knowledge than I or the time to look it up right now will have to tell me why there's all the boats going on at this shrine. At the top there was a submarine. Don't ask me! Not a clue! I feel bad for whoever carried it up there though. Also I imagine the black and white horse have some significance. 

The blossoms are juuuust barely starting to show here. In Takamatsu castle area there's tons of trees ready to go boom. Makes me a little sad that I'm not here later. But I'll see more and will be back around this area (but in Osaka/Kyoto/Nara) right at full bloom. Tomorrow I think I'm heading to Hiroshima if not farther south to see as much as I can of the blooms there.

Some foods, ice cream with a honey syrup. And my solution to my phone dying. Since I'm using it to get around everywhere it doesn't make it all the way through the day. I got back to my hotel tonight with ~2% left on it. And that's with me trying to conserve the juice. The portable charger will hopefully give me some of the freedom I want.

Beef udon (at least that's what it tasted like. Think if you mixed beef jerky with a miso and added noodles. That's about what it was. And yes, it was good).

And a little extra surprise! It's entirely raw footage mind you, so don't expect too much.

Out of Tokyo into Takamatsu - The now proclaimed bike city

Today I packed my pack and headed south into Takamatsu, Kagawa. It was about a 4 hour train ride, 3 of which was done on the Shinkansen. Covered quite a lot of distance in that time! I had my GoPro running a time lapse throughout all of it which will hopefully have some cool results once I get home and can compile it. For the time being it generated about 13,600 image files. A new record for me on pictures I've taken during a trip!

To get to Takamatsu you have to cross a bridge from Okayama where you switch off the Shinkansen. It was a little overcast and gray today but still enjoyable to see. 

My hotel is right next to what would be called an open air mall in Utah. It seems like it was originally a street filled with shops that the city then came in and organized a bit, put some lighting in, and put a roof on top. It's nice to have so close. There are many many shops. This and the following pictures were what I discovered on my way to find a shrine about 25 minutes away.

Using Google maps I found two shrines close together. The first one didn't have a whole lot going on and I think anyone who is usually there had already gone home. I'm attempting to get a stamp and writing from as many shrines as I can. It's a thing offered at the larger shrines. I'm sure there is a better explanation behind why this is a thing. But I sadly do not know it and have not researched it yet either.

Finally I got there at around 5:00 PM (http://goo.gl/maps/M7Yoi). There were just a couple of people there, some cats, and not a whole lot else moving around! As I said above one of the reason for visiting these shrines is to get a stamp in this small book that I have. Sadly, everything was close down. However there was an elderly gentleman who was collecting some of the offerings made at the shrine. I hesitated a moment but then figured eh... why not ask him "doko deskua?" while showing him the book. Lucky me he recognized it and showed me into a room and had me sit down while he went into the back. Minutes later he returned and I now have this shrine in the book as well! I'm really glad I asked as I don't know that I'll make it to this shrine again since there's a lot more to do tomorrow.

The room he sat me down in above.

A "biking-lot", yes I just made that up. I'm so clever. Literally it was a huge area full of bikes. There's so many people and bikes around. I'm hopefully going to find a spot to rent one tomorrow. It'd help a lot. 

 Tempura Udon for dinner. Kagawa is famous for it's Udon noodles. I bought a teriyaki chiken sandwich thing on the train for lunch too. Both were quite good!

Room for this area. It's a nice one and I like it more than the room in Tokyo. It was just so cramped! Not that this one is huge but still more. 

Picked these up as I was out. Uhm, yes. They're good. They taste better than they look, too!

Day 4: Cooking class fun!

Today was somewhat of a slower day considering the first 3 were filled with walking miles throughout the entire day. Not that I'm complaining, my feet needed a rest. In the morning I packed together things I had picked up while in Akihabara and sent them home. Didn't need the extra couple of pounds and loss of space!

In the afternoon I went to Meguro on the way to my cooking class. It's somewhere I'm going to have to come back to on the last days I'll be in Japan when the blossoms are in bloom along the river (

click here to see them

). It will be quite pretty to see!

As you may have gathered by now I was on my way to a cooking class. I had been introduced to a blog written by a culinary expert in Japan, Ururu Kaigo. You can view this blog here: 

http://team-foodies.blogspot.jp/

and her website here: 

http://www.ururu-ururu.com/english.html

. In reading her blog I found that she offers a cooking class for tourists. So yes, that was something I had to do! After contacting Ururu Kaigo I made arrangements to have my class. It was held in a cool studio where she's done things for magazines and other publications!

During my time with her we cooked and prepared a variety of things including Sushi, Temarizushi, Kushiage, and Tempura. It was a really fun experience and I'm glad I was able to go. It'll be a wonderful thing to take home. Lucky for me it was all things I should be able to do on my own as well! Though there is no way I'll be able to get ingredients that are quite so good. The seafood in particular. Anyways, it was an incredible experience and the pictures don't do it justice. I'm excited to try some of these at home on my own!

Thanks so much to Ururu Kaigo and her manager for treating me to a good time and giving me such a unique experience. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested!

Tomorrow I'm off out of Tokyo to continue the journey. Now comes the hard part of deciding what to see and what I'll have to miss. It's going to be a busy two weeks before Okinawa.

Day 3: Off to Nikko

Today was Nikko day. Nikko is to the north of Tokyo and takes about a 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to. Half of which is on the Shinkansen (bullet train). It's a mountainous area which still had snow and is just barely getting out of winter. Most plans were still dormant from my opinion. It was still a wonderful day and successful as it was the first on my own. I feel like I should be able to get around inside of Tokyo and most places. I've also been able to communicate a little better with my Japanese. Though I'm still far from great..

In Nikko there are two shrines, a temple, and the botanical garden. All of which I visited while I was there. I also went on somewhat of a random path that ran behind the shrine up into the mountain. Once I crested the top it looked like it went back down into some home area. There wasn't anyone else using this path so I called it good and turned back around there.

As a friend told me before I got to Japan, young girls in grade schools are more willing to use English with a foreigner. I was asked a couple of times to take a picture for them. I get the feeling that most everyone could carry on a conversation quite well if they felt like taking a small risk and trying. Certainly better that what I can do in Japanese!

Anyways here's a bunch of pictures. I realize that most of these might mean nothing to you. But they're for me to record a little bit so I don't forget. You just get suckered into looking!

Also meals of the day: Lunch - Udon noodles with tempura shrimp. Super awesome.  Dinner - Bento to go since I got back fairly late and wanted to get to the hotel. 

Tomorrow I'm off to a cooking class. I'll also reserve a seat towards Kagawa and hopefully be able to mail some things home that I picked up so I don't have to carry them.

Day Two: Tokyo Anime Fair 2014

Today I met up with another guide who was willing to go to the Tokyo Anime Fair with me. Needless to say I've never been to a fair. And that my first was the Anime Fair in Tokyo was quite exciting! It extremely fun to walk around and look at all the displays. I think they're a little more strict and had the cosplayers somewhat "quarantined" which was a little unfortunate. It would have been fun to speak with some. I dare say many of them could be called "Kawaii", though! It was in the Big Site Expo center which, along with other things in the area, is built on land made by men to build on. Haneda Airport is also built in the same way. After leaving the fair we visited the Gundam Statue (though I don't know it's exact location, it was close by though).

We then walked to another of these man made islands and I had my first ramen. Delicious would be one word for it! Nearby was a good view of the Rainbow Bridge and Statue of Liberty. Using the rail that went across the Rainbow Bridge we made out way to Akihabara.

What a place! I actually bought souvenirs while walking around here which isn't something I was planning on doing. I'll spend some time on Monday and figure out how to mail it back home. Among the purchases were some badges I'll put on my backpack, key chains, figurines, and my first magna! Yeah I can't read it.. but I wanted some anyways. My guide also helped me to find an adapter so I can charge my laptop. Thankfully!

There are many interesting shops here. In one we went into you could buy incredibly action figured. Truly puts anything you can find in the states to shame. This store also had a floor for dolls.. at this point I'm not sure if it was for children or adults. American Girl has nothing at all on this one single store. The accessories were endless! I was tempted to buy a doll because it was that interesting and extensive. Also a shop selling different types of weapons. Some from shows, some from history, and a whole lot of Kitanna. Again one downside of using a pack is how little room I have for things I shouldn't spend my money on anyways! Like the states there is are coin machines where you could normally get a fake ring or sticky slime thing. However, unlike the states there's a lot more choice and better quality. We went into a store that was only these type of vending machines lining the wall.

Before we left we also went to a Maid Cafe! I really wish I'd learned more Japanese. Maybe when I come back next time. It's a very enjoyable themed restaurant where the waitresses are dressed up as maids. Sadly you can't take pictures (I should have tried to charm my way in and get one). But I didn't want to be a nuisance. Anyways I was able to get a polaroid photo op before leaving. Sugoi kawaii!

Not loads of time so not a description for everything. Heading to bed for my day trip to Nikko tomorrow. First day all on my own and getting somewhere. Also my first bullet train ride. We'll see how it goes!

First day

This one will be quick as I'm running out of battery on my Chromebook and I need to find a 3->2 prong converter so I can plug it in to charge.

Had a nice day out with my guide from TFG. We went to the Meiji Shrine, Asakusa, Open Air Edo Tokyo museum (has historical actual homes you can walk through etc) and quite a few other locations. The food was really good too! I think I enjoyed the Meiji Shrine the most, it is quite a lovely place and I'll be trying to visit as many shrines as I can. There was also a couple of wedding parties taking their photos around the shrine too.

I tried Natto with my breakfast. Can't say I'm a huge fan but didn't hate it like I thought I might. Sort of just an accent flavor.

Anyways running out of time with the battery. Here's some pictures:

Arrival in Japan

Well, I made it! Didn't get to the hotel until about 12:30 AM and in bed till a little after 1 AM. Slept about 5 hits and now I'm awake! I can feel a little part of my brain being tired but that's OK. In less than two hours I'll be meeting up with M-san for my first day out. Hope I am good company for him!

Also of note I managed to tell the taxi driver I was not last night to get him to roll down the windows. Victory!

The room is very compact. My head touches the shower ceiling. And the toilet seat is heated! Not sure why that hasn't made it other places.. Ready to get going :D