Hustlers Grab Your Guns – Shadow Weighs a Ton
Hello!
Photos are finally here! None of our infamous travels on this guy:
The Shinkansen
Nup, I’ve loaded up a bunch of what we have been up to over the last four or five days in San Francisco.
Were we involved with the Nazi’s?? Really?
After coming through the rather strange customs process, we hit San Fran:
We have been pretty busy walking all around San Anselmo, the area that my uncles Inn is in. We also took the ferry to the city a couple of times and yesterday went on a drive over to Berkley. Great place! Its full with activism and character, I could even tell that from the small afternoon spent there.
Here are a couple of pictures from our second evening in San Fran, when we went up to headlands above the bridge.
Amazingly clear sunset up there…
Franny and the Harbour
The Gang up on the hill, Peter and Kate wern’t around
Long way from Japan
And then there was the city…
Finally in the city, it took me a few days to get out of bed.
On Pier 1. Nice.
Definitly in California now…
Seals at Fishermans Wharf
ChinaTown
San Fran Architechture
Chinatown
Dangerous.
And thats us in the big city over the last week. Its been cool to see such a contrast of Japan. More on both those places sooooooooooonaaaaaaaaaasssssss!!!
The Taxi we caught home yesterday was the taxi used in Friends (Pheobes Taxi) STARSTRUCK!
And Finally Birkleys Drug Free Zone
This entry was written by , posted on February 20, 2008 at 12:10 am, filed under San Francisco, USA, Uncategorized. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Arrrrrgh!
San Fran.
Wicked city, we finally made it into the city itself and are in a nice coffee cafe in Haight Street right now. I’m begining to look unzombie-like again as the flight from Japan to USA caused me to catch a horrible vacation tainting cold. But its sunny and nice and warm, 15-20 Degrees.
Unfortunatly cybercafes here have no USB access so no photos once again, I’m hoping to track down SOMEWHERE to upload photos SOMETIME in the next MILLION years.
in the mean time im about to head to the KidRobot store – eeeep! – its a store filled with the coolest designer toys ever, later this week a new Dunny series is released which will also be exciting. Franny is loving San Fran, especially the architechture (forgive my spelling!!) its really great, and desipte the fact that nobody is really friendly, everyone is helpful. Which is nice,
Anyway my 20min timelimit is rounding up, photos next time I hope! Kyoto, Osaka and the Shinkansen, not to mention USA are all piling up.
Love
Max and Fran
This entry was written by , posted on February 16, 2008 at 10:17 pm, filed under San Francisco, USA, travel. and tagged cyber cafe, haight, san fransico, timelimit, travel.. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Sayonara!!
Me and Fran are Outtie!
At the airport, through our security screening, and waiting for the time to tick away until we leave Japan.
Stink!
but later today – or early today – (We leave Japan at 3:45pm and arrive in Cali at 7am on the same day…eeeeek) we will be in glorious 15+Degree weather, with people who understand us and the KidRobot megastore. yeow.
The Kiosk I’m at doesnt have usb so no photos in this blog, but im sure USA will give me plenty of free time to update all the photos from the last week and a half.
Saying goodbye to Japan via Narita Airport,
Max and Fran
This entry was written by , posted on February 13, 2008 at 3:31 am, filed under Uncategorized. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Setsubun enjoyed atop a mountain
Ok,
So before heading out of Tokyo to roam the countryside/gigantic citys that span most of japans landmass, Me, Fran and the gang headed up the side of a dawnting mountainside in a shakey slippry railcar to get into the cultural grove of Japan with Setsubun.
Setsubun is a traditional holiday that is all about the begining of spring, they throw beans out of the house that symbolise the devils that will haunt you. while later that day casting beans of good fortune back into the house for the new season/year.
On the morning of, me and Franny got woken up by Thomas at our door telling us to slide the window open;
ahah, thats what we saw.
magic.
Popn down the 7/11 just for kicks
Ah the snow was amazing amazing amazing. it was like 100% powdery soft crunchy icing sugar. So we rapped up and decided to ditch the inner city celebration and head out on the train up to _____ (errrr forgot the name of the mountain)
Nami-Chan and Thomas
check out the snowbuildup on the seat
Temple gates at the bottom of the mountain
Me an Cesca out in the subzero
Everyone (Minus Suzuka) right before risking our lives
Can’t see in the photo but its on a 90 degree angle. straight up.
when we got to the top a little van took us the 15 min walk to the shrine, yus
Yeow
Amazing temple in the snow.
More amazing temple
heavy snow
And then as the temple drums sung out and bells chimed there was a small procession of monks who passed into the temple to begin the ceremony, it was really ritualistic and peaceful and the chanting of the monks was really nice in the quiet snow.
Waiting
monks singing and playing instruments.
the Bean throwing, the backward umbrella tactic worked a treat.
And then the ceremony quickly and quietly ended. The monks became real people and we said hi. It was nice that the ritual is a part of their REAL lives.
So straight after that we headed up the steep slippery steps on the right of the temple to the upper shrine. That was a beauty in itself. take a peak;
epic
Then it got so cold that we had to catch a ride back down to find a fire to warm us
Names of those who contribute to the shrine lined the road down, me and Fran got put in the boot of a minivan. ek.
but we found a nice warm spot down there… (This photos for Franny.)
And that was it, the place and the celebration was great. We loved it and had the best time, the next day the weather cleared right up and we shot out of Tokyo down to Osaka.
More on that next time, but as a little foward-flash, Today, Me and Fran went to visit the Studio Ghibli Museum.
It was the most magical place, there were no photos inside so youll just have to trust me on that.
It was really small and a complete contrary to what Disneyland considers the way a studio themepark should be, this place was more like an art gallery, with rooms set up like that of the artists who created their work. It had tons of small details that made it so special. But heres a couple of shots we snapped on the roof, snnnnneeeeaaaaaky
Catch you next time, Love, Max and Franny
This entry was written by , posted on February 9, 2008 at 12:30 pm, filed under Uncategorized. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
City that (almost) never sleeps – Remaining days in Tokyo
It feels like a lifetime ago since i updated you guys on the going on’s.
First up a little notice: My phone is officially not going to work what-so-ever over here in Japan. America will probibly be an entirely diffrent story, but the cell phones (of which i am extremely dissapointed they won’t work on Vodafone, as they are THE coolest things I have ever seen) here are all on plan and roaming in Japan takes two weeks to process…err annoying.
Second up, best way to get hold of me is via email, if your looking to call, the chuck me an email and ill feed you the number.
Third: Hey Mum, Dad, Annabel and my friends, I’m hard out missing all you guys and even though this is amazingly amazing. I can’t wait to see you, Dad – the camera is really really cool. Thank you! Annabel shoes are keeping my toots warm in the soft snow (featured in this ep!) and Mum I wouldnt be here without your ticket help! thanks.
OK
So back to pics and stories.
Heres a pictorial run down of the couple of days spent cruising the streets of Tokyo after our last update:
Everything looks like a toystore, but isnt.
Allyway in Shinjuku.
Arriving in Harajuku, its a sweet little-big street.
Found Wendys there…aaaaaahh tastes like home
Yum imitation food lollies – pretty.
So much to see and do in tokyo. But I still didnt find one toy shop until we hopped off the Yamanote line at the:
Akihabara Electric Town Exit
toyz
Retrogamez
Arcadez
Dinosaurz
Akihabara is pretty much my Dream…
Phew.
So after all that, we spent the next few days rolling around the city at a leasurly pace. We went to an unhappy Zoo and Spent some time in the Ueno district that seemed so innocently quiet and turned out to be seemed so innocently quiet and turned out to be a bustling marketplace. look:
Ueno’s quiet station area,
sweet
about to walk into the zoo
Little shine in the zoo -
- wish theyd put that much effort into the enclosures
aw
angry/sad/mental
Wheres the honor?
This guy reminded me of Foxy, made me miss him.
Uhh, don’t feed the aminals, I guess…
Pelican Face
Killer Crow, swooping for a small child.
So my time is up at the Cybercafe, I havent had time to proof read or update you on our trip out of tokyo or the rest of our adventure in Ueno. They will be uploaded soooooon…
Safe in sound in tokyo again – love Max and Fran
This entry was written by , posted on February 8, 2008 at 1:00 pm, filed under Akihabara, Japan, Tokyo, Ueno, travel. and tagged Akihabara, asia, Japan, photos, Tokyo, travel., Ueno, zoo. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Shinjyuku and the Yamanote Line…
Ohiyogozaimasu all, were back quick sharp for yet another update on the status of us and our ultra exciting trip!
After we left you yesterday -EK a couple of days ago now- we had one of the most action packed, adventurous days you could imagine. We snuck away from that dingy cybercafe, (there really packed tightly over here…) grabed a bite to eat, and jumped onto the trains away from Kichijyoji.
Yum
The food was a bit of a laugh as they didnt have any pictures or understand english so I had to use my Nihongo skillz. It was delicious (Oishii Desu) and everyones super polite and helpful. I have actually been digging into any food put in front of me, Including seafood!
Me and Fran then headed from Kichijyoji into the heart of Tokyo.
Franny at the Kichijyoji Station, stading out.
The train itself is an awesome experience, each stop has its own ringtone. The seats are heated and nobody, NOBODY says a word. No cell phones are allowed on and everyone politely sways in silience. The trains go incredibly fast. probibly over a hundread and fifty K’s per hour, but despite that they too run smoothly and silently. The sudden shake of the train as we pass by another is kind of frieghtening in the silience.
Doesn’t look it, but its super quiet.
The city on a whole, though being full of frantic activity, is really calm and quiet. There isnt any hustle and bustle at all! Its actually really nice. Cars run much quieter and only at night when people yell “Irashimase” (Welcome to our shop) out of there shop doors and music blares along with them do you feel as though your part of such a huge, overbearing city.
So back to the story of our day; Me and Fran went to an area on the Yamanote line named Nippori. The Yamanote Line is the Tokyo equivilent of the Link in Auckland. it runs for about an hour or more, to go in a large circle around the inner Tokyo city. Being on that train was great. You get to see so much of each area and how much they differ. The adverts featuring common anime characters were great, Later on that day we saw a Humougous Billboard for the anime Evangelion. -Photo coming soon!-
At Nippori me and Fran were trying to track down a large fabric store apparently close to the station. What we found was Textile street/Textile Town.
Mental fake furs.
An entire avenue of multi-storied fabric stores containing millions of diffrent fabrics. I got myself a bit of Nintendo-Animal Crossing cotton for a bag when I get back.
Animal Crossing Fabric
On the Street at Textile Town
After we had finished up in Textile Town, we jumped back onto the Yamanote and headed home via a Train change at Shinjuku.
Fran in a Slot Machine Arcade. there are tons of these.
Outside the Nippori Station
It was rush hour when we got off at Shinjuku and ourside the sun had gone compleatly. We came out of the station into Shinjuku and it was the most amazing area of neon lights, building sized TV screens and people swarming the streets.
Outside the Nippori Station
Franny after the Yamanote Train ride back into Shinjyuku (Near our local train line)
After walking up the steps out of the underground station in Shinjyuku
Signs in the sky
Perspective on them
Me in the street at Shinjyuku
Franny too
Spotting Gloomy in silver and gold.
It was cool.
We spent a big eveing in Shinjyuku and headed home after that.
The last couple of days since then have been amazing. I would have loaded them up now but these cramped smoke-filled (people smoke EVERYWHERE here) cybercafes are hell, so you will have to wait. But as a quick preview: up until what you have seen in pictures, I had not found one toy shop, Akihabara changed all that; tons of five/six/seven story toy game and dvd shops. Akihabara is Electronic town. I want to live on the streets there. I have blown a bit of money on dinky Jap toys, be@rbricks are 399 ($4) here, so its not that expensive. Also we paid a visit to the worst zoo in the world. And spent a lot of time roaming the vastness of Tokyo. Many more updates and pictures to come…
Ps. Mum, Dad, anyone interested; Tokyo is actually a really cheap place in terms of transport food and comodities. Clothes are equal if not less then in NZ and the train is cheap as chips. Meals can cost as little as 5/6 dollars each! Its great.
Anyway love from Max and Fran in Tokyo
PPS next installment coming sometime sunday before we head out of tokyo for a few days to explore the island. wooooooooo
This entry was written by , posted on February 1, 2008 at 9:26 am, filed under Uncategorized. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
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